Home | Species List | Bibliography


Ephemeroptera: Ephemerellidae of Gunnison County, Colorado

Serratella tibialis
Small Western Dark Hendrickson

McDunnough 1924
Updated 8 Oct 2020

Description

Nymphs are 3-tailed and have a white stripe running the length of the head, thorax and body. Their tails have whorls of dark spines on the apex of each segment, with few setae in between. The back or posterior edge of each abdominal segment has a pair of small tubercles.

Locations Collected

Myers Gulch, West Elk Creek, Red Creek, Gunnison River (Argyle and Edmunds 1962), Elk Creek

Good Links

On this website:
Ephemerellidae Introduction

Other Websites:

References

Allen RK; Edmunds GF Jr. 1963 A revision of the genus Ephemerella (Ephemeroptera: Ephemerellidae). VI. The subgenus Serratella in North America. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 56:583-600. PDF

Argyle,DW; Edmunds,GF 1962 Mayflies (Ephemeroptera) of the Curecanti Reservoir Basins Gunnison River, Colorado. University of Utah Anthropological Papers 59 8, 178-189.
     Quote from page 188: "This species is recorded from 3 streams. The greatest concentration of them was found in a torrential habitat in association with a large amount of algae in the rocks." There were 4 streams named as collection sites in spite of the assertion that this species was present in three.

Cain,DJ; Luoma,SN; Wallace,WG 2004 Linking metal bioaccumulation of aquatic insects to their distribution patterns in a mining-impacted river. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 23, 1463-1473. PDF
     Abstract: "Although the differential responses of stream taxa to metal exposure have been exploited for bioassessment and monitoring, the mechanisms affecting these responses are not well understood. In this study, the subcellular partitioning of metals in operationally defined metal-sensitive and detoxified fractions were analyzed in five insect taxa. Samples were collected in two separate years along an extensive metal contamination gradient in the Clark Fork River (MT, USA) to determine if interspecific differences in the metal concentrations of metal-sensitive fractions and detoxified fractions were linked to the differences in distributions of taxa relative to the gradient. Most of the Cd, Cu, and Zn body burdens were internalized and potentially biologically active in all taxa, although all taxa appeared to detoxify metals (e.g., metal bound to cytosolic metal-binding proteins). Metal concentrations associated with metal-sensitive fractions were highest in the mayflies Epeorus albertae and Serratella tibialis, which were rare or absent from the most contaminated sites but occurred at less contaminated sites. Relatively low concentrations of Cu were common to the tolerant taxa Hydropsyche spp. and Baetis spp., which were widely distributed and dominant in the most contaminated sections of the river. This suggested that distributions of taxa along the contamination gradient were more closely related to the bioaccumulation of Cu than of other metals. Metal bioaccumulation did not appear to explain the spatial distribution of the caddisfly Arctopsyche grandis, considered to be a bioindicator of metal effects in the river. Thus, in this system the presence/absence of most of these taxa from sites where metal exposure was elevated could be differentiated on the basis of differences in metal bioaccumulation."

Gilpin,BR and Brusven,MA 1970 Food habits and ecology of mayflies of the St. Maries River in Idaho. Melanderia 4:19-40. PDF
     Discussed as Ephemerella (Serratella) tibialis.

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

Hawkins,CP 1985 Food habits of species of ephemerellid mayflies (Ephemeroptera: Insecta) in streams of Oregon. American Midland Naturalist 113(2) 343-352. PDF

Jacobus,LM and McCafferty,WP 2003 Revisionary contributions to North American Ephemerella and Serratella (Ephemeroptera: Ephemerellidae). Journal of the New York Entomological Society 111:174-193. PDF

Mangum,FA and Madrigal,JL 1999 Rotenone effects on aquatic macroinvertebrates of the Strawberry River, Utah: a five-year summary. Journal of Freshwater Ecology, 14(1) 125-135. PDF

McCafferty,WP; Durfee,RS; Kondratieff,BC 1993 Colorado mayflies (Ephemeroptera): an annotated inventory. Southwestern Naturalist 38 3, 252-274. PDF
     Quote from page 266: "All reports prior to 1990 have been as Ephemerella tibialis. This species is found throughout the West at almost all elevations in cool, moderately flowing waters."

McDunnough,J 1924 New Canadian Ephemeridae with notes, II. Canadian Entomologist 56, 90-98, 113-122, 128-133.

NAWQA National Water-Quality Assessment database said this genus was found in their samples from Gunnison County. Searched 1Sept2005.

Peckarsky,BL; Dodson,SI; Conklin,DJ 1985 A key to the aquatic insects of streams in the vicinity of the Rocky Mountain Biological Lab, including chironomid larvae from streams and ponds. Colorado Division of Wildlife, Denver CO. 47 pages.

Perry SA; Perry WB; Stanford JA. 1986. Effects of stream regulation on density, growth, and emergence of two mayflies (Ephemeroptera: Ephemerellidae) and a caddisfly (Trichoptera: Hydropsychidae) in two Rocky Mountain rivers (U.S.A.). Canadian Journal of Zoology 64(3):656-666.

Robinson,CT and Minshall,GW 1986 Effects of disturbance frequency on stream benthic community structure in relation to canopy cover and season. Journal of the North American Benthological Society, 237-248. PDF
     Abstract: " Field experiments were conducted to examine the effects of disturbance frequency on invertebrates and periphyton colonizing bricks in a third order Rocky Mountain (USA) stream. After an initial colonization period (30 days), sets of bricks were turned over at intervals of 0, 3, 9, 27, or 54 days. Invertebrate species richness and density were reduced as disturbance frequency increased. These trends were evident for both seasons (summer and fall) and sites (open vs. closed canopy). Invertebrate species diversity (H') displayed no effect during the fall experiment; however, H' was reduced at high frequencies of disturbance during the summer experiment. Baetis tricaudatus was the most abundant invertebrate on the substrata at both sites and seasons. Alloperla, Baetis, Cinygmula, Chironomidae, Drunella grandis, Hydropsyche, and Seratella tibialis increased in absolute abundances as disturbance frequency decreased. Four other abundant taxa (Capnia, Cleptelmis, Glossosoma, and Isoperla) displayed no clear response to disturbance in either absolute or relative abundances. Species in low abundance tended to colonize only the less frequently disturbed bricks. During both seasons, periphyton biomass increased as disturbance frequency decreased at the open canopy site, while no trend was apparent at the closed canopy site. Periphyton accumulation monitored over time and among treatments revealed that frequent disturbances maintained low standing crops at an open canopy site. These data suggest that disturbance frequency can directly influence the benthic community at the scale of individual rock "islands" by reducing invertebrate richness, total animal density, and periphyton biomass. The effect of disturbance on species diversity (H') was seasonal, further emphasizing the importance of considering seasonality in stream field studies. "

Walley GS. 1930. Review of Ephemerella nymphs of western North America (Ephemeroptera). Canadian Entomologist 62(1):12-20, pl. 2-3. 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
     Discussed as Ephemerella tibialis.

Brown,WS 2004 Mayflies (Ephemeroptera) of Gunnison County, Colorado, USA
www.gunnisoninsects.org