Water Penny

1. Documentation: The bronze, oval shaped larvae indicate a water penny. With no legs, no wings, and no obvious tail- the circular shape and color are the main giveaway.

2. Weather: sunny, clear sky, cold
   
   Temp: High: 50 Low: 27
   Precipitation: .05 in the last 24 hours
   Wind: 14 mph
   Humidity: 72%

3. Nearby plants and Animals: Also saw stonefly nymph, mayfly nymph, other water pennies, and a few crayfish
4. Additional Notes: Young larvae live in waters, on algae on rock surfaces, and are nocturnal. The presence of water-penny larvae indicate a healthy water source because they can’t survive in habitats where rocks have a thick layer of algae, fungi, or inorganic matter.

During a water analysis of Wolf Creek, many species were found.

2 Water Pennies were found. Based on these macro-invertebrates it can lead to a indication that the stream is health because Water Pennies are indicator species.

Weather:
It’s an average spring day in Slippery Rock with a high of 64°F and a low of 28°F. It was mostly sunny the entire day with an average wind around 1 mph.

Notes:
This macroinvertebre is known as a Water Penny Larva (family psephenidae) which was among the many Caddisfly and Mayfly larva found. You can tell because it’s smaller than your pinky nail and has a shell almost similar to a potato bug, but those aren’t the only characteristics. If you look under it’s coppered colored shell, it has 6 legs in the thorax region and tiny, feathery gills under the abdomen. They are typically indicators of waterways that are high in oxygen and low in pollution.

Other species seen during this time was the Common Merganser (mergus merganser), Caddisfly Larva (order Trichoptera), and Mayfly Nymph (order ephemeroptera)