Pine Brook

ORDER: Ephemeroptera
FAMILY: Heptageniidae

This family of mayflies can be characterized by their distinctly flattened heads and striking resemblance of the character 'Jack Skellington' from the movie 'The Nightmare Before Christmas.' This family can either have two or three tails.

ORDER: Diptera
FAMILY: Chironomidae

 Midge larvae tend to be the most common macroinvertebrate at our sites.  As with other Diptera, there are no true jointed legs.  Chironomids do have a pair of prolegs at each end and preserved individuals tend to curl into a 'C'.  Identification past family requires slide-mounted heads.  We have seen philopotamid caddisflies misidentified with the chironomids and we suspect that that happens when samples are being sorted from trays.  Under a microscope, six prominent legs can be seen on the philopotamids.

ORDER: Ephemeroptera
FAMILY: Baetidae 

This family of mayfly is characterized by antennae longer than the width of their head and a notch in their labrum. The most common genus we found was Baetis.
NABS

PHYLUM: Annelida
CLASS: Oligochaeta

Aquatic earthworms lack legs and are characterized by having 20 or more segments. Unlike leeches, they lack a suction disk.

ORDER: Plecoptera
FAMILY: Leuctridae
GENUS: Leuctra

Among our most common stoneflies, this family is fairly slender by stonefly standards.  The divergent wing pads are a helpful characteristic. Leuctridae  are similar in overall shape to the Capniidae; however, Leuctridae often do not have pleural folds. If they are present, they only extend from abdominal segments 1-7.  Leuctra  are recognized by abdominal terga with posterior fringes of short hairs and last few segments with longer hairs. NABS

ORDER: Trichoptera
FAMILY: Philopotamidae

Our next most common caddisfly family is once again a net-spinning filtering collector.  A casual observer might sort them with the chironomids, but a close look reveals six jointed legs.  The faint white 'T' shaped labrum extending from the front of the head past the mandibles is diagnostic for the family (it is sometimes withdrawn and hard to see).  Chimara is the most common genus we encountered.   The asymmetrical notch gets us to genus.  Dolophilodes is also common. SMC

ORDER: Plecoptera
FAMILY: Perlodidae
 

Stoneflies in the Perlodidae family do not have branching gills from leg bases. When observing their mouthparts, the glossa and paraglossa form a large three-pronged notch, or opening. Hind wing pads are divergent. Cerci, or "tails," are as long or longer than the abdomen.

© US EPA

ORDER: Diptera
FAMILY: Tipulidae
GENUS: Hexatoma

These tipulids can be identified by their swollen 7th abdominal segment.

ORDER: Diptera
FAMILY: Ceratopogonidae

Members of this family look like very straight Chironomidae. They are very long and thin with a distinct head capsule and no prolegs.  Some in the lab call them 'bamboos with eyes". SMC

© US EPA

ORDER: Ephemeroptera
FAMILY: Caenidae

These "small squaregill" mayflies have large rectangular gills on segment 2 (operculate gills) that cover gills on segments 3 to 6. Their bodies are built for crawling, and their head is held vertically.