Caddisfly Family Hydropsychidae

This species was really common along the Henry's Fork at the end of July. I photographed it along with a female that appears to be the same species, and another male of the same genus but a seemingly different, less common (on this day) species.

I didn't identify this one directly, but I eventually identified one of several I collected from the same swarms that appeared to be of the same species. (I lost track of which specimen was which in storage.) The microscope pictures come from one of these specimen, not necessarily the same specimen as the DSLR pictures. They key to Cheumatopsyche, and the hind wing venation that separates them from Hydropsyche is pretty clear in the attached picture as well as another specimen I checked under the scope.

This specimen was one of tens of thousands we saw on a July 1st evening on the Madison, beginning with big swarms around every vehicle and tree at the Eight Mile Ford access point and continuing all up and down the river bank. We somehow didn't catch any trout, perhaps because they were stuffed with pupae from when these things emerged. Or maybe we just weren't fishing well. Either way, this one represents a major hatch there.

I somehow forgot to photograph this important specimen against the hooks size chart, but fortunately I preserved a few. The body length is about 6 mm, and total length from head to wingtip is 9 mm.

This was identified by Dave Ruiter as Hydropsyche californica or Hydropsyche occidentalis, but the characteristics were not clear enough to tell them apart.

This species was really common along the Henry's Fork at the end of July. I photographed it along with a male that appears to be the same species, and another male of the same genus but a seemingly different, less common (on this day) species.

Dave Ruiter identified this specimen from pictures as Hydropsyche occidentalis.

These big caddisflies were tempting trout as they wriggled out of their shucks, while others skated across the water at a medium pace, probably egg-laying.

These specimens are either Cheumatopsyche or Hydropsyche. They escaped before I could catch them.I suspect, based on size, they are Hydropsyche, they are about 1/4 inch in length. Both H. occidentalis and H. californica are common in the Touchet River.

Several users have interesting comments in the discussion of this specimen, but this observation by Creno is especially good:

I photographed this one recently dead. It's hard to keep caddis pupae alive for very long in a collection container.

I was surprised how bright green this pupa is. It's chartreuse. After collecting it, I experimented with melting down chartreuse jigs and making little translucent rubber caddis abdomens on my flies. They looked good, and the trout liked them, but they weren't very durable at all. This specimen is recently deceased in the photographs.

I already had one of these on the site, but these giant Hydropsychidae larvae are just too photogenic to pass up.

At first I had trouble believing this giant Hydropsychidae larva was actually a member of its family, because of the size. I had never seen such a thing. It turned out to be a member of this exceptionally large species with a fitting name, grandis.

This is one of the most vividly green Hydropsychidae larvae I've caught.

Every picture of this Hydropsychidae larva was taken with my old C740UZ through a microscope.

Size - 14 mm

Condition - preserved

Habitat - cobble bottom, moderate flow run, at a depth of approx. 1 1/2 feet.

Key Characters - pair of large prosternal sclerites


This is a very common taxon at this location. I collected using a kick net. In life, it is bright olive green ventrally, shading to a dull olive at its dorsal abdominal surfaces. In the hand, the legs, thoraxic regions, and head appear medium chocolate brown. The stark contrast of the thoraxic plate's dark edges and light legs are effects of preserving. The plumouse anal hooks were duck down gray, not the color of the gills as appears in the preserved specimen.

The Lower Yuba River is a good habitat for this species, being a larger river with an open canopy. The Feather River just to the north of the Yuba system also finds H. californica in abundance. The other common Hydropsyche species in the area, Hydropsyche occidentalis, seems to prefer smaller, shaded streams.

Entoman

This genus can get incredibly abundant especially below dams.This specimen shows the two sclerotized bars needed to identify it to genus. These usually curl up like this one when preserved.