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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As far as I can tell, this species has only previously been reported from one site in Oregon along the Columbia gorge. However, the key characteristics are fairly unmistakable in all except for one minor detail:
— 4 small yellow spots on frons visible in photos
— Narrow occipital spinule row curves forward (but doesn’t quite meet on stem of ecdysial suture, as it's supposed to in this species)
— Short spinules on anterior margin of front legs
— Short rposterior row of blunt spinules on abdominal tergae, rather than elongated spinules dorsally
I caught several of these mature nymphs in the fishless, tiny headwaters of a creek high in the Wenatchee Mountains.
— 4 small yellow spots on frons visible in photos
— Narrow occipital spinule row curves forward (but doesn’t quite meet on stem of ecdysial suture, as it's supposed to in this species)
— Short spinules on anterior margin of front legs
— Short rposterior row of blunt spinules on abdominal tergae, rather than elongated spinules dorsally
I caught several of these mature nymphs in the fishless, tiny headwaters of a creek high in the Wenatchee Mountains.
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Dinky Light Summer Sedges
This common name refers to only one genus. Click its scientific name to learn more.
Caddisfly Genus Nyctiophylax
These are often called Dinky Light Summer Sedges.
This specimen is certainly Nyctiophylax and most likely Nyctiophylax affinis. I don't know my caddisfly parts well enough to definitively follow the Nyctiophylax key in Morse (1972), but that source states that affinis is the predominant Midwestern species, being widespread and common in the region where I found this one. The anatomy of this one seems to match those at least as well as the other two potential options based on range, Nyctiophylax uncus and Nyctiophylax banksi.