LARVAE AND ADULTS OF AMELETUS MAYFLIES (EPHEMEROPTERA, AMELETIDAE) FROM ALBERTA

Mayflies of the genus Ameletus (Ephemeroptera: Ameletidae) occur in pr actically every drainage of western Alberta and in the Cypress Hills, from headwater spring brooks to larger rivers. The genus is speciose a nd reaches its greatest diversity in the southwestern part of the prov ince where as many as 12 species can occur at a single site. Of the 30 bisexual species currently recognized from North America, 13 have bee n collected from Alberta (A. bellulus, A. celer, A. cooki, A. majuscul us, A. oregonensis, A. pritchardi, A. similior, A. sparsatus, A. subno tatus, A. suffusus, A. validus, A. velox, and A. vernalis), and anothe r, A. ir inopinatus, is assumed to occur in the northern part of the p rovince. Male adults of all North American species were described prev iously by Zloty (1996, The Canadian Entomologist 128: 293-346). In the current paper, we describe late-instar larvae and adult females of al l 14 Albertan species, and provide species distributions and keys for identification of male and female adults and larvae. All diagnostic ta xonomic characters are described and illustrated. The identification k eys can also be used in Saskatchewan, eastern British Columbia, Montan a, and the northern parts of Idaho and Washington.