Notes - Michigan Species List - Key - References
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Page last updated: 12 August 1998
Notes on the Michigan Species of Macromia
Two of the 7 species of Macromia found in North America north of Mexico have been collected in Michigan (see maps below). M. illinoiensis is by far the most common species, and is found throughout the state. M. taeniolata is know by only a few adult specimens in the southern LP.
Williams (1978) noted that larvae of M. taeniolata collected from Texas fed chiefly during night, while during the daylight hours lay burrowed in mud or debris substrates. A recent adult specimen from the Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County in the LP appeared to be flying about the shore of the Huron River (Mark O'Brien, pers. comm.). The river there is slow-moving, with fine silt and gravel substrate with the shore with large-rooted willow trees. Walker and Corbet (1975) found larvae of M. illinoiensis in large, somewhat rapid streams as well as moderately wave-swept sections of lakes. I (EB) have found larvae of M. illinoiensis in the UP sprawling in sandy and rocky substrates of clean, well-aerated lakes as well as in similar substrates of slow-moving streams. Larvae from these habitats appear golden brown with a dark, speckled pattern, and when placed on these substrates appear quite cryptic. Huggins (in Huggins and Brigham 1982) found larvae of M. illinoiensis from Kansas also among hanging masses of rootlets and aquatic vegetation. Larvae emerge in June through early July in Michigan.
Needham and Westfall (1955) provided the first comprehensive taxonomic treatment for larvae, but the character used to separate M. illinoiensis from several other species (shape of lateral spine of Ab9) is considered unreliable (Donnelly and Tennessen 1994). Alternative diagnostic characteristics have since been suggested that allow for species differentiation (Huggins and Brigham 1982, Donnelly and Tennessen (1994), upon which the key below is based.
Other links with information on the biology or
ecology of larval Macromia:
none found as of 01 February 1998
Map 1
Map 21a. Mature larvae large, total length > 33 mm; mid-dorsal abdominal hook on 6 stout, its width-to-height ratio greater than 0.80 (picture); height of mid-dorsal hook on Ab2 usually shorter (< 0.85x) than that on Ab3 (figure); frontal horn blunt (figure) - M. taeniolata
1b. Mature larvae smaller than above, total length < 30 mm; mid-dorsal abdominal hook on 6 more slender than above, its width-to-height ratio less than 0.65 (0.62-0.64) (picture); height of mid-dorsal hook on Ab2 nearly (> 0.9x) as high as that on Ab3 (picture); frontal horn sharp (figure) - M. illinoiensis
Donnelly, T. W., and K. J. Tennessen. 1994. Macromia illinoiensis and georgina: a study of their variation and apparent subspecific relationship (Odonata: Corduliidae). Bulletin of American Odonatology 2(3):27-61.
Huggins, D. G. and W. U. Brigham. 1982. Odonata, pp. 4.1-4.100 in Aquatic Insects and Oligochaetes of North and South Carolina. Brigham, A. R., W. U. Brigham and A. Gnilka, eds. Midwest Aquatic Enterprises: Mahomet, Illinois.
Rambur, J. P. 1842. Histoire naturelle des insectes neuroptères. Libraire Encyclopédique de Roret, Paris. 534 pp.
Walsh, B. D. 1862. List of the Pseudoneuroptera of Illinois contained in the cabinet of the writer, with descriptions of over forty new species, with notes on their structural affinities. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences Philadelphia 14:361-402.
Williams, C. E. 1978. Notes on the behavior of the late instar nymphs of four Macromia species under natural and laboratory conditions (Anisoptera: Macromiidae). Notulae Odonatologicae 1(2):27-28.