ECOLOGICAL LIFE HISTORY OF 
BAETISCA CAROLINA TRAVER IN 
PANTHER CREEK, NICHOLAS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA 
(EPHEMEROPTERA: BAETISCIDAE) 
By Daniel K. Pettry and Donald C. Tarter 1 
The main objective of this study was to elucidate the ecological 
life history of the mayfly Baetisca Carolina Traver in Panther Creek, 
Nicholas Co., West Virginia. Additionally, multivariate discrimi- 
nate analysis was used to separate B. Carolina from the closely 
related B. berneri. Other authors, including Berner (1955, 1959), 
Pescador and Peters (1971, 1974), Lehmkuhl (1972), Chaffee and 
Tarter (1979), Morris et al. (1980) and Berner and Pescador (1980), 
have reported ecological studies on Baetisca species. Only a few 
investigators, including Smith (1935) and Traver (1931, 1937), have 
noted ecological information on B. Carolina. Pettry and Tarter 
(1983) reported a relationship between body size and body colora- 
tion in B. Carolina nymphs. 
Taxonomy and Distribution 
The endemic family Baetiscidae is monotypic, containing only the 
genus Baetisca (Walsh 1862). Traver (1931) described the nymph, 
subimago and imago of B. Carolina. Traver (1937) described# 
thomsenae which Berner later synonymized with B. Carolina. Pesca- 
dor and Berner (1981) proposed that B. Carolina is part of a group 
that was pushed into or trapped in the ice-free streams of the Appal- 
achians (Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and 
Virginia) during the Pleistocene glaciation and has remained in the 
cool mountain streams until the present time. Needham et al. (1935) 
reported B. Carolina nymphs from the Morgantown, West Virginia 
vicinity. 
'Dept, of Biological Sciences, Marshall Univ., Huntington, W. Va. 25701 
Manuscript received by the editor September 25, 1985 
355 
