LIFE HISTORY OF THE FISHFLY, 
NIGRONIA FASCIATUS 
(MEGALOPTERA: CORYDALIDAE ) 
By Donald C. Tarter , 1 William D. Watkins 2 
and Michael L. Little 1 
The objective of this study was to describe certain aspects of the 
life history of the fishfly, Nigronia fasciatus (Walker), in a small, 
woodland stream in Cabell County, West Virginia. Some investiga- 
tors, including Tarter and Watkins (1974), Evans (1972), Neun- 
zig (1966) and Cuyler (1965), have reported taxonomical and 
distributional information on this fishfly. The egg masses, eggs, and 
first-instar larvae of N. fasciatus were described by Baker and Neun- 
zig (1968), and the mature larva by Cuyler (1965) and Neunzig 
(1966). 
The genus Nigronia Banks 1908 includes two recognized species 
in North America, N. fasciatus (Walker) and N. serricornis (Say). 
N. fasciatus was originally described by Walker (1853) as Chauli- 
odes fasciatus. It has been collected in New York, Pennsylvania, 
Ohio, Glen Echo, D. C., Maryland, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, 
and Mexico (Davis, 1903). In West Virginia, Tarter and Watkins 
(1974) reported N. fasciatus from eight major drainages in 15 
counties. The larvae are most often found under rocks and logs in 
small, woodland streams. 
Materials and Methods 
Hisey Fork, a small, woodland stream in Cabell County, West 
Virginia, is the study area. The stream flows northeast for 7.4 km 
and empties into Fourpole Creek near Huntington, West Virginia. 
The average gradient is 45 m/km. The stream is about 1 m wide 
throughout its length, and the water depth is about 0.1 m. The 
substrate consists of sand, coarse rubble and large boulders. The 
riparian woodland is composed of beech Fagus grandifolia Ehrh., 
yellow poplar Liridendron tulipifera L., oak Quercus spp., and 
hickory Carya spp. 
This study was initiated in September 1972 and continued until 
August 1973- To study the life history of N. fasciatus , the year was 
1 Dept. of Biol. Sci., Marshall Univ. Huntington, W. Va. 
2 Ashland Oil Inc., Res. and Dev. Dept., Catlettsburg, Ky. 
Manuscript received by the editor February 16, 1975 
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