Blog & Latest Updates
Fly Fishing Articles
Insects by Common Name

Trout Streams & Rivers
Trout Pictures
Underwater Pictures

Desktop Backgrounds
Stream & Bug Videos
Troutnut's Alaska Blog

**Mayfly Genus Leptophlebia (Black Quills and Blue Quills)**

Mayflies

Caddisflies

Stoneflies

Taxonomic Navigation -?-

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

» Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

» Class Insecta (Insects)

» Order Ephemeroptera (Mayflies)

» Family Leptophlebiidae (Blue Quills & Mahogany Duns)

» Genus Leptophlebia (Black Quills and Blue Quills)

Species in Leptophlebia
Leptophlebia cupidaBlack Quill	17	73
Leptophlebia johnsoniWhirling Dun	0	0
Leptophlebia nebulosaBlack Quill	0	0

4 species aren't included.

Common Names

Match	Common Name
	Black Quills and Blue Quills
	Borcher Drakes
	Black Quills
	Whirling Duns
	Western Black Quills
	Early Black Quills

Pictures Below ↓

This is page 2 of specimens of Leptophlebia. Visit the main Leptophlebia page for:

The behavior and habitat of Leptophlebia.

Pictures of 20 Mayfly Specimens in the Genus Leptophlebia:

Specimen Page:123

Leptophlebia cupida (Black Quill) Mayfly Nymph

View 3 Pictures

Collected March 1, 2004 from unknown in Wisconsin
Added to Troutnut.com by Troutnut on January 25, 2006

Female Leptophlebia cupida (Black Quill) Mayfly Spinner

View 2 PicturesThis large female Leptophlebia spinner emerged from a nymph I was holding in my room one night. I didn't have time to photograph her and she molted into a spinner before I was home from work in the evening. So here she is as a spinner. I wish I had more photos at more angles, but she flew off and I couldn't find her.

Collected May 18, 2004 from unknown in Wisconsin
Added to Troutnut.com by Troutnut on January 25, 2006

Leptophlebia cupida (Black Quill) Mayfly Nymph

View 4 PicturesThis one survived several days in an aquarium before being photographed. Leptophlebia cupida is known as a durable species.

I'm trying to try a similar specimen (link to the next specimen) and see how that works.

Collected February 4, 2004 from the Namekagon River in Wisconsin
Added to Troutnut.com by Troutnut on January 25, 2006

Female Leptophlebia (Black Quills and Blue Quills) Mayfly Dun

View 7 PicturesI collected this mayfly after user Al514 tipped me off to the presence of some Leptophlebia mayflies I didn't seem to have yet with his ID request of a male dun. This seems to be of the same species. I also collected a female spinner. Based on that spinner, I can tell that this is either Leptophlebia cupida or Leptophlebia nebulosa, but I can't tell which.

Unfortunately none of the specimens I collected made it through the hot, sunny day very well. So the pictures aren't great, but they're better than nothing.

Collected May 9, 2007 from Factory Brook in New York
Added to Troutnut.com by Troutnut on May 18, 2007

Leptophlebia cupida (Black Quill) Mayfly Nymph

View 4 Pictures

Collected March 1, 2004 from the West Fork of the Chippewa River, Headwaters in Wisconsin
Added to Troutnut.com by Troutnut on January 25, 2006

Leptophlebia cupida (Black Quill) Mayfly Nymph

View 5 Pictures

Collected February 5, 2004 from the Namekagon River in Wisconsin
Added to Troutnut.com by Troutnut on January 25, 2006

Leptophlebia (Black Quills and Blue Quills) Mayfly Nymph

View 5 PicturesI think this one might be Leptophlebia intermedia.

Collected February 5, 2004 from the Bois Brule River in Wisconsin
Added to Troutnut.com by Troutnut on January 25, 2006

Leptophlebia cupida (Black Quill) Mayfly Nymph

View 5 Pictures

Collected March 1, 2004 from the West Fork of the Chippewa River, Headwaters in Wisconsin
Added to Troutnut.com by Troutnut on January 25, 2006

Female Leptophlebia (Black Quills and Blue Quills) Mayfly Spinner

View 6 PicturesI collected this specimen along with a female dun of the same species. Unfortunately it's not in very good shape.

After poking at it for a while under a microscope with a good scientific key in hand, I'm pretty sure this is either Leptophlebia cupida or Leptophlebia nebulosa. I can't tell which.

Collected May 9, 2007 from Factory Brook in New York
Added to Troutnut.com by Troutnut on May 18, 2007

Leptophlebia cupida (Black Quill) Mayfly Nymph

View 3 Pictures

Collected February 5, 2004 from the Bois Brule River in Wisconsin
Added to Troutnut.com by Troutnut on January 25, 2006

Specimen Page:123

Jargon Defined:

Dun: Mayflies have two adult stages. They first emerge from the water as duns (scientifically known as the subimago stage). They then molt into the spinner (imago) stage, in which they mate and die. Sometimes the word "dun" is confusingly used to refer to a brownish gray color in fly tying materials.

Nymph: The juvenile, underwater stages of mayflies, stoneflies, dragonflies, and damselflies and other aquatic insects whose juvenile stages are covered by hard exoskeletons. The word can also refer to the fishing flies which imitate these creatures, in which case it is used as a blanket term for flies imitating any underwater stage of an invertebrate (except for crayfish and leeches).

Spinner: There are two winged stages of adult mayflies. They emerge from the water as duns, molt on land (usually) into their fully mature stage, spinners. As spinners, they mate, lay eggs, and die.

Useful References:

Arbona, Fred Jr. 1989. Mayflies, the Angler, and the Trout. Nick Lyons Books.

Caucci, Al and Nastasi, Bob. 2004. Hatches II. The Lyons Press.

Knopp, Malcolm and Robert Cormier. 1997. Mayflies: An Angler's Study of Trout Water Ephemeroptera . The Lyons Press.

Leonard, Justin W. and Fannie A. Leonard. 1962. Mayflies of Michigan Trout Streams. Cranbrook Institute of Science.