**Male Leptophlebia cupida (Black Quill) Mayfly Dun Pictures**

Mayflies

Caddisflies

Stoneflies

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

» Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

» Class Insecta (Insects)

» Order Ephemeroptera (Mayflies)

» Family Leptophlebiidae (Black Quills and Blue Quills)

» Genus Leptophlebia (Black Quills)

» Species cupida (Black Quill)

This Leptophlebia cupida dun was extremely cooperative, and it molted into a spinner for me in front of the camera. Here I have a few dun pictures and one spinner picture, and I've put the entire molting sequence in an article.

This mayfly was collected from the Upper Midwest on May 27th, 2005 and added to Troutnut.com on May 16th, 2006.

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CameraCanon EOS 20D

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CameraCanon EOS 20D

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Buy Gifts

CameraCanon EOS 20D

View Full Size (2.7X larger)

CameraCanon EOS 20D

View Full Size (2.7X larger)

CameraCanon EOS 20D

View Full Size (2.7X larger)

CameraCanon EOS 20D

Recent Discussions of this Dun

Midwest/Great Lakes hatch reports anyone? 11 Replies »

Posted by Konchu on Mar 30, 2007

Last reply on Feb 26, 2008 by Taxon

Saw a nice Leptophlebia cupida/nebulosa spinner today while I was sitting on the front porch; it met its demise in my wife's soda, unfortunately. That's the first one I've noticed this year. What else, if anything, is everyone seeing so far this spring? The Ameletus from the stream behind my house will be hatching soon, maybe yet this weekend, if the weather cooperates.

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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.

Molting: When aquatic insects with hard exoskeletons (like mayfly and stonefly nymphs) grow bigger, their exoskeleton does not grow with them. Instead they grow a new, larger one underneath and shed the old one when it's too small. This process is called molting.

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.

Top 10 Hatches

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