Mayfly Genus Nixe

Mayflies

Caddisflies

Stoneflies

Taxonomic Navigation -?-

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

» Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

» Class Insecta (Insects)

» Order Ephemeroptera (Mayflies)

» Family Heptageniidae (March Browns, Cahills, Quill Gordons)

» Genus Nixe

Species in Nixe
Nixe inconspicua	0	0
Nixe lucidipennis	0	0

6 species aren't included.

Pictures Below ↓

The only species currently in this genus reported to produce fishable hatches is Nixe lucidipennis.

Angling books sometimes mention hatches of Nixe criddlei and Nixe simpliciodes. These species have been moved to the genus Ecdyonurus.

Hatching Behavior

These species hatch in or near the surface in calm water. Emergence is quite fast, but the duns may drift a while.

Spinner Behavior

Time Of Day: Dusk

Habitat: Riffles

The female spinners oviposit by flying over the water and dropping down to the surface to release some eggs, then taking off to do it again. They eventually fall spent (Spent: The wing position of many aquatic insects when they fall on the water after mating. The wings of both sides lay flat on the water. The word may be used to describe insects with their wings in that position, as well as the position itself.).

Pictures of 1 Mayfly Specimen in the Genus Nixe:

Male Nixe inconspicua Mayfly Dun

View 13 PicturesThis pretty little dun was part of a sparse midsummer evening hatch on a large Catskill river.

I could not identify it by following a species key step by step, but I tentatively keyed it to the genus Nixe, and based on distribution maps and physical descriptions the most likely species is Nixe inconspicua.

Collected July 13, 2005 from the East Branch of the Delaware River in New York
Added to Troutnut.com by Troutnut on April 14, 2006

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Jargon Defined:

Duns: 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.

Emergence: The transformation of a nymph or pupa into the adult winged stage of an insect. The term may refer to the emergence of an individual, or the daily or yearly event in which all individuals of a species emerge.

Oviposit: To lay eggs.

Spent: The wing position of many aquatic insects when they fall on the water after mating. The wings of both sides lay flat on the water. The word may be used to describe insects with their wings in that position, as well as the position itself.

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.