Procloeon Viridocularis (Ephemeroptera: Baetidae) From Michigan And Pennsylvania, New Range Extensions With Comments On The Species

3 Pages·1996·0.92 MB·English

by  R D Waltz

ENTOMOLOGICALNEWS
166
PROCLOEON VIRIDOCULARIS (EPHEMEROPTERA:
BAETIDAE) FROM MICHIGAN AND PENNSYLVANIA,
NEW RANGE EXTENSIONS WITH COMMENTS
ON THE SPECIES1
R.D.Waltz2 JamesB.Munro3
,
ABSTRACT: Procloeon viridocularis is reported for the first time from both Michigan and
Pennsylvania. Thesecollectionsarealsothe firstreportsofthisspeciesoutside the southeastern
UnitedStates.Previously,thisspecieswasknownonlyfromAlabama,Florida,Georgia,Mississippi
andSouthCarolina.ThelarvaofProcloeonviridocularisisdistinct,ifnotunique,amongNearctic
Procloeonbasedonacombinationofcharactersincludingelongateclaws,simplegills,long,narrow
maxillarypalps,andterminalsegmentofthelabialpalpsgreatlyexpanded.Thelarvaearesimilar
tolarvaeofthegenusPseudocentroptiloides. Asynopticcomparisonandcontrastofthelarvaeof
thisspecieswithPseudocentroptiloidesisprovided.
While conducting ecological studies of mayfly drift and periodicity, two
unusual larval exuviae of Procloeon Bengtsson were collected by one of us
(JBM) from Blooming Grove Creek, Pike County, Pennsylvania, August 10,
1993.Independently,theseniorauthorencounteredtwolarvaeofthesametype
fromMichigan,CheboygenCo.,LakeHuron,GrassyBay,nearshorearea,May
18, 1992, collected as part ofongoing studies ofthe National Biological Ser-
vice, Great Lakes Science Center. The larvae and larval exuviae were charac-
terized by elongate claws greater than one-half the length of their respective
tarsi, greatly expandedterminal segments ofthe labial palps, andeachmaxilla
bearinganarrow, muchelongated(comparedtothemajorityofProcloeonspe-
cies)palp extending well beyond the galealacinea.
Theselarvaeand larval exuviae wereidentified asProcloeon viridocularis
(Berner) basedoncomparisons withpublisheddescriptions (Berner 1940) and
comparisons with previously identified material in the senior author's collec-
tion from the southeastern United States. This species has been reported from
Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi (Berner and Pescador 1988) and
South Carolina (Unzicker and Carlson 1982: p. 3.85). The discovery of P.
viridocularisfrom thenorthernmostcountyofthelowerpeninsulaofMichigan
and from northeastern Pennsylvaniagreatly extends the known northernrange
ofthis species. Itmay eventually be found throughoutmuchofthe east (equal
tonortheast+ southeast sensu McCafferty andWaltz 1990).
Thiswidespread,butapparentlyuncommon,specieswasoriginallydescribed
1 ReceivedAugust31, 1995.AcceptedOctober2, 1995.
2 IDNR, Division ofEntomology and Plant Pathology, 402 West Washington, Room W-290,
Indianapolis,IN46204.
3EastStroudsburgUniversity,DepartmentofBiologicalSciences,EastStroudsburg,PA 18301.
ENT.NEWS 107(3): 166-168,May&June, 1996
Vol. 107,No.3,May&June, 1996 167
in Centroptilum Eaton as both larvae and adults by Berner (1940) and later
transferred to Procloeon (McCafferty and Waltz 1990). Some workers have
brought to the attention ofthe senior author the phenotypic similarities ofthe
larva of P. viridocularis with Pseudocentroptiloides Jacob, noting especially
the claw, gill, and labial palp characters as being very similar. However, P.
viridocularis lacks the identifying synapomorphies which would place it in
Pseudocentroptiloides, including lack ofa v-shaped notch at the anteriormar-
gin of the labrum, lack of a characteristically modified maxilla, and lack of
shortenedglossaeandparaglossae(seeWaltzandMcCafferty 1989).Thelarva
ofProcloeon viridocularisisdistinctive, ifnotunique, among NorthAmerican
Procloeon in possessing elongate claws which exceed one-half the length of
theirrespectivetarsi, possessing greatly expanded terminal segmentsofthe la-
bial palps, combined with the possession of maxillae with an elongate, two-
segmented palp which extends well beyond the apex ofthe galealacinea. Like
other Procloeon species, larvae of this species possess caudal filaments with
lateral setaepresent tothetipsofthefilaments, and havethemandible incisors
united beyond halfway from the baseon at leastone mandible.
BernerandPescador(1988)providedanexcellentaccountofthehabitatsof
P. viridocularis in the southeastern United States. In the southeast, larvae of
this species apparently prefer sandy bottomed streams with moderate current
where they may be found in still pockets behind rocks or atthe base ofrooted
plants.
The collection site for P. viridocularis in Michigan was uncharacterized
otherthan as a nearshore site in Lake Huron.
ThesitefromwhichthePennsylvaniamaterial istakenislocated inBloom-
ingGroveCreek, aclean,clear-water, thirdorderstream. Thisdominantly free
stonestreamisgenerallycharacterizedby substrateboulders withalowdegree
ofembeddedness. Pools and rifflesprovide a variety ofalternative microhabi-
tats. The stream is fed by swamp water outflows maintaining a pH ofaround
6.14 (Ersbak 1993). Low alkalinity4.9 mg/1 (CaCC3), low total hardness 18.8
mg/l(CaCO3), and average temperaturesof20 C ranging from a lowof 1.9C
in February to a high of 23.0C in September (Ersbak 1993) summarize the
physical and chemical parameters ofthe site.
Thehabitatdescribedaboveappearstodiffersomewhatfromthatdescribed
forthisspeciesbyBernerandPescador(1988). However,oneratherlargepool,
with sandy substrate located approximately seven meters upstream from the
sampling site, matched closely the characteristics of the southeastern habitat
for this species described by Berner and Pescador (1988). The pool did not
exceed 30cm in depthand wasborderedby an emergentburreed,Sparganium
chlorocarpum. Itis possible that this pool represents the habitatofthis species
inPennsylvania,ratherthanthemoregenerallydistributedbouldertypeofhabitat
occurring throughoutmostofthe stream.
168 ENTOMOLOGICALNEWS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We thank the Blooming Grove Hunting and Fishing Club forallowing one ofus (JBM) to
studythestreamsitefromwhichsomeofthespecimensinthisreportwerecollected.WethankPat
Hudson, National Biological Service, Great Lakes Science Center, for providing the Michigan
materialcitedinthisreport.
LITERATURECITED
Berner,L. 1940.BaetinemayfliesfromFlorida(Ephemeroptera).FloridaEntomol.23:33-45,49-
62.
Berner,L.andM.L.Pescador.1988.TheMayfliesofFlorida,RevisedEdition.UniversityPresses
ofFlorida,Gainesville.415pp.
Ersbak,K. 1993.FisherymanagementreportfortheBloomingGroveHuntingandFishingClub.
Hawley,Pennsylvania.66pages.
McCafferty,W.P.andR.D.Waltz. 1990.RevisionarysynopsisoftheBaetidae(Ephemeroptera)
ofNorthandMiddleAmerica.Trans.Am.Entomol. Soc. 116:769-799.
Unzicker,J.D.andP.Carlson.1982.Ephemeroptera,pp.3.1-3.97.InA.R.Brigham,W.U.Brigham,
andA. Gnilka, eds.Aquatic insects and oligochaetes ofNorth and South Carolina. Midwest
AquaticEnterprises,Mahomet,Illinois.
Waltz,R.D.andW.P.McCafferty. 1989.Newspecies,redescriptions,andcladisticsofthegenus
Pseudocentroptiloides(Ephemeroptera:Baetidae).J.NewYorkEntomol.Soc.97: 151-158.