**Mayfly Species Rhithrogena impersonata (Dark Red Quill)**

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Taxonomic Navigation -?-

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

» Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

» Class Insecta (Insects)

» Order Ephemeroptera (Mayflies)

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

» Genus Rhithrogena

» Species impersonata (Dark Red Quill)

Common Names

Match	Common Name
	Dark Red Quill
	Red Quill

Pictures Below ↓

This intriguing species has two distinct colors of nymphs, which were once considered to be different species. Most nymphs are a dark olive gray, but some are a surprisingly bright reddish brown. The red ones were once classified as Rhithrogena sanguinea. There is no apparent difference between the adults of the two varieties.

Where & When

Regions: East, Midwest

Time Of Year (?): Late May through early July

I have not found any discussion of fishable hatches of this species, but I have sampled two small streams where the nymph population is so dense that there must be good fishing to the adults unless they have the worst of emergence characteristics.

Hatching Behavior

Habitat: Fast water

Spinner Behavior

Time Of Day: Dusk

The Leonards write in Mayflies of Michigan Trout Streams that the spinners gather in great swarms high above the river as the sun sets. They do not say whether this activity culminates in a fishable spinner fall.

Nymph Biology

Current Speed: Fast

Substrate: Gravel

Pictures of 3 Mayfly Specimens in the Species Rhithrogena impersonata:

Rhithrogena impersonata (Dark Red Quill) Mayfly Nymph

View 6 PicturesThis was the only Rhithrogena specimen in a large sample of nymphs from a small Catskill stream. It looks virtually identical to Rhithrogena impersonata specimens collected in the Midwest, but I didn't get to check the distinguishing features under a microscope.

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

Rhithrogena impersonata (Dark Red Quill) Mayfly Nymph

View 8 PicturesThis specimen shows one of two distinct color types of Rhithrogena impersonata nymphs. This type is very reddish, especially in the gills, and it was formerly in its own species called Rhithrogena sanguinea.

Collected June 5, 2005 from the Long Lake Branch of the White River in Wisconsin
Added to Troutnut.com by Troutnut on May 24, 2006

Rhithrogena impersonata (Dark Red Quill) Mayfly Nymph

View 5 Pictures

Collected June 5, 2005 from the Long Lake Branch of the White River in Wisconsin
Added to Troutnut.com by Troutnut on May 25, 2006

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Jargon Defined:

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.

Nymphs: 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:

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

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

Schwiebert, Ernest G. 1955. Matching the Hatch. MacMillan Publishing Company.