Code QE039999

Large mayflies from Tasmania and south-east mainland Australia (NSW, Victoria and South Australia). The one Australian genus, Tasmanophlebia , comprises three described species and an uncertain number undescribed. The head is small and hypognathous (downward directed); the antennal length is about equal to the width of the head. The first abdominal gills are plate-like, operculate, extending to about segment 4 and covering the other gill pairs. All gills have entire margins: the inner margins of the operculate gills are widely separated. Caudal filaments have lateral setal fringes, but the setae on the outer margins of the cerci are shorter and restricted to the apical half.

Oniscigastrid nymphs occur in upland lakes and the sandy, silty, slow-flowing reaches of rivers and streams. Nymphs sometimes burrow. Tasmanophlebia nymphs have been found at elevations ranging from alpine Kosciusko to lowland sites at sea-level.

References:

Campbell, I.C. (1985) Dietary habits of some Australian siphlonurid and oligoneurid ephemeropteran nymphs. Verhandlungen der Internationalen Vereinigung fr theoretische und angewandte Limnologie 22 : 3250-3259.

Campbell, I.C. (1986) Life histories of some Australian siphlonurid and oligoneurid mayflies (Insecta: Ephemeroptera). Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 37 : 261-288.

Chessman, B.C. (1986) Dietary studies of aquatic insects from two Victorian rivers. Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 37 : 129-146.

Dean, J.C. (1996) Oniscigastridae. pp. 30-31. In: Dean, J.C. and Suter, P.J. Mayfly Nymphs of Australia. A guide to Genera. Cooperative Research Centre for Freshwater Ecology, Identification Guide No. 7., Albury, NSW.