**Mayfly Species Cinygmula subaequalis (Small Gordon Quill)**

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 Cinygmula (Dark Red Quills)

» Species subaequalis (Small Gordon Quill)

Common Names

Match	Common Name
	Small Gordon Quill
	Gordon Quill
	Golden Spinner
	Quill Gordon

Pictures Below ↓

This is the only Eastern species of Cinygmula. It may produce fishable hatches in places but it is not a generally important mayfly.

Where & When

Region: East

Time Of Year (?): May and June

Cinygmula subaequalis is widespread but only locally abundant. Caucci and Nastasi in their collections for Hatches II were unable to find any specimens, but Fred Arbona in Mayflies, the Angler, and the Trout mentions consistent subaequalis hatches in the mountains of Pennsylvania, New York, and Vermont.

Pictures of 2 Mayfly Specimens in the Species Cinygmula subaequalis:

Cinygmula subaequalis (Small Gordon Quill) Mayfly Nymph

View 10 PicturesThis nymph is missing a few gills, but is otherwise in good shape. It was the only one of its species which turned up in my sample.

Collected May 29, 2007 from Paradise Creek in Pennsylvania
Added to Troutnut.com by Troutnut on June 4, 2007

Cinygmula subaequalis (Small Gordon Quill) Mayfly Nymph

View 3 PicturesI had heard reports of a bright red heptageniid nymph before but never seen one until I found this early instar (Instar: Many invertebrates molt through dozens of progressively larger and better-developed stages as they grow. Each of these stages is known as an instar. Hard-bodied nymphs typically molt through more instars than soft-bodied larvae.) specimen in a very high water quality small stream in the Catskills.

Collected April 19, 2006 from Mongaup Creek in New York
Added to Troutnut.com by Troutnut on April 21, 2006

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Jargon Defined:

Instar: Many invertebrates molt through dozens of progressively larger and better-developed stages as they grow. Each of these stages is known as an instar. Hard-bodied nymphs typically molt through more instars than soft-bodied larvae.

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).

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.