Salmonflies
Pteronarcys californica
The giant Salmonflies of the Western mountains are legendary for their proclivity to elicit consistent dry-fly action and ferocious strikes.
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This one pretty clearly keys to Kogotus, but it also looks fairly different from specimens I caught in the same creek about a month later in the year. With only one species of the genus known in Washington, I'm not sure about the answer to this ID.
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Updates from July 20, 2005
Photos by Troutnut from the Rush River in Wisconsin
On-stream insect photos by Troutnut from the Rush River in Wisconsin
Closeup insects by Bnewell from the Flathead River in Montana
I have been told this is the only western aquatic moth, Petrophila confusalis, see here on milkweed blossoms.
Updates from July 19, 2005
Photos by Troutnut from Lake Superior, Eighteenmile Creek, and the Rush River in Wisconsin
Updates from July 12, 2005
Photos by Troutnut from the East Branch of the Delaware River in New York
Closeup insects by Troutnut from the East Branch of the Delaware River and Miscellaneous New York in New York
This pretty little dun was part of a sparse midsummer evening hatch on a large Catskill river.
I could not identify it by following a species key step by step, but I tentatively keyed it to the genus Nixe, and based on distribution maps and physical descriptions the most likely species is Nixe inconspicua. (Edit in 2023: this species was recently moved from Nixe into Afghanurus.)
I could not identify it by following a species key step by step, but I tentatively keyed it to the genus Nixe, and based on distribution maps and physical descriptions the most likely species is Nixe inconspicua. (Edit in 2023: this species was recently moved from Nixe into Afghanurus.)
I found this Hexagenia limbata spinner on a gas station in upstate New York, not a region known for heavy hatches of this species.
