Ephemeroptera: Heptageniidae of Gunnison County, ColoradoCinygmula mimus(Eaton) 1885Updated 18 September 2024
TSN 100558 Good LinksOn this website:Cinygmula Introduction Other Websites: Photos, Map, Museums, DNA - Barcode of Life Data System ReferencesAllan,JD and Feifarek,BP 1988 Prey preference in stoneflies: a comparative analysis of prey vulnerability. Oecologia, 76(4), pp.496-503.Eaton AE. 1883-1888. A revisional monograph of recent Ephemeridae or mayflies. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London, Second Series, Zoology 3:1-352, 65 plates. 
Elmork,K; Saether,OR 1970 Distribution of invertebrates in a high mountain brook in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. University of Colorado Studies Series in Biology No 31. Flecker,AS and Allan,JD 1988 Flight direction in some Rocky Mountain mayflies (Ephemeroptera), with observations of parasitism. Aquatic Insects 10(1):33-42. PDF Hamilton,H and Clifford, F 1983 The seasonal food habits of mayfly (Ephemeroptera) nymphs from three Alberta, Canada, streams, with special reference to absolute volume and size of particles ingested. Arch. Hydrobiol., Suppl, 65(2/3), 197-234. PDF Jensen,SL 1966 The Mayflies of Idaho (Ephemeroptera). M.S. Thesis, University of Utah, Utah. 364 p. Quote from pages 154 and 155: "The mimus group, of which this species is a representative, is the most difficult section of the genus. Closely related species probably included in this complex are C. gartrelli McDunnough and C. reticulata McDunnough, both of which are distinguished by characters in the key. However, according to Edmunds (1952b) there is at least one additional undescribed species included under the name of C. mimus, perhaps accounting for much of the variability that this species seems to have. The most noted variable for specimens collected in Idaho is that of size. I have examined specimens assigned to this species with wing lengths ranging from eight to fourteen millimeters with representatives at intermediate measurements. The degree of suffusion of amber on the wings is also variable with some specimens much darker than others. Perhaps once this genus and specifically this complex , is revised our understanding will be much clearer. Nymphs of this species are found in small to moderate streams usually above elevations of 5,000 feet, on rocks and among gravel. Adults swarm in the early evening and on cloudy days, usually from 3-5 feet over riffles in the stream. They have been colected from May to August." McCafferty,WP; Durfee,RS and Kondratieff,BC 1993 Colorado mayflies (Ephemeroptera): an annotated inventory. Southwestern Naturalist 38 3, 252-274. PDF They note the Colorado State University (CSU) insect collection has specimens from Cement Creek. Quote from page 259-260 "There is considerable confusion about the identification of Cinygmula species mainly due to the fact that larvae have not been adequately described and compared. Cinymula par and Cinygmula mimus seem often to be confused(see previous records above). It remains unclear as to what species the many references to Cinygmula sp. that appear in published ecological studies actually refer. However, C. par is apparently a high altitude species (it was taken by Dodds in headwater areas between 10,500 and 11,650 feet) that has been referred to under various epithets (See also Traver, 1935; Ward and Berner, 1980)." McCafferty,WP and Provonsha, AV The Mayflies of North AmericaSpecies List (Version 12Jan2009) Here is the geographic range and synonyms: Cinygmula mimus (Eaton), 1885 [CAN:FN,NW;USA:FN,NW] * Cinygma mimus Eaton, 1885 (orig.) * Rhithrogena mimus (Eaton), 1885 (comb.) McDunnough,J 1924 New Canadian Ephemeridae with notes, II. Canadian Entomologist 56, 90-98, 113-122, 128-133. Discussed as Cinygma mimus.   Mihuc,TB and Minshall, GW 1995 Trophic generalists vs. trophic specialists: implications for food web dynamics in post-fire streams. Ecology, 76(8), pp.2361-2372. Abstract: "The trophic ecology of 11 benthic macroinvertebrate taxa found in Cache Creek, Yellowstone National Park (YNP) was studied to determine if burned organic matter is an important resource and how resource utilization patterns may be altered in post-fire streams. Laboratory food quality experiments were conducted to determine the growth response of each species when grown on several resource types: burned organic matter, periphyton, unburned coarse particulate material (CPM), and unburned fine particulate material (FPM). The central hypothesis of this research was that benthic macroinvertebrates cannot use burned organic matter as a resource. A secondary hypothesis was that some benthic macroinvertebrates are facultative in trophic function, with the ability to use both allochthonous and autochthonous resources for growth. Of the 11 taxa studied, only one (Paraleptophlebia heteronea) could grow on burned organic matter as a resource, indicating that post-fire food webs probably do not exhibit major shifts in resource utilization to burned material. Two species were generalist detrivores (P. heteronea, Ameletus cooki) able to use both natural FPM and CPM resources. Two species were specialist detritivores (Oligophlebodes sigma, Ephemerella infrequens) growing only on unburned CPM resources, and two (Cinygmula mimus, Epeorus albertae) were specialist herbivores utilizing only periphyton. Five species were generalist herbivore-detritivores (Baetis bicaudatus, Drunella doddsi, D. coloradensis, D. spinifera, Zapada columbiana), exhibiting growth on both detritus and periphyton resources. Based on the experimental results, trophic generalists are common food web components in Yellowstone streams. Two of the most abundant benthic macroinvertebrates during post-fire recovery, B. bicaudatus and Z. columbiana, were trophic generalists, indicating that some generalists may be disturbance adapted. In this study, published functional feeding group classification did not indicate obligate resource utilization (growth on only one resource type) for most taxa studied. Comparison of a food web for Cache Creek based on functional feeding group classification and one based on the results of this study indicates that the inclusion of generalists in the web results in a more realistic approximation of food web relationships such as the link-species scaling law. Our results suggest that future research should include spatial and temporal aspects of resource switching and generalist resource utilization by individual lotic primary consumers." Peckarsky,BL 1990 Habitat selection by stream-dwelling predatory stoneflies. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 48, 1069-1076. Peckarsky,BL 1991a A field test of resource depression by predatory stonefly larvae. Oikos 61 1, 3-10. Slater, J.; Kondratieff, B. C. 2004 A review of the mayfly genus Cinygmula McDunnough (Ephemeroptera: Heptageniidae) in Colorado. J. Kansas Entomol. Soc. 77(2): 121-126. PDF Ward,JV and Berner,L 1980 Abundance and altitudinal distribution of Ephemeroptera in a Rocky Mountain stream. In Advances in Ephemeroptera biology (pp. 169-177). Springer US. PDF |