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 dun emerged from a mature nymph on my desk. Unfortunately its wings didn't perfectly dry out.
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Little Tan Short-horned Caddis
This common name refers to only one genus. Click its scientific name to learn more.
Caddisfly Genus Glossosoma
These are often called Little Tan Short-horned Caddis.
The sporadic emergence of these caddisflies diminishes the importance of the freshly emerged adults and pupae, but they have unique periods of vulnerability as larvae during the day and again as diving egg layers at dusk that can make them very important. A taxon can only have one common name attached in the title but this is one of those genera whose species come in a variety of colors and descriptive common names. In the West their bodies generally come in tan to brown shades with matching wings, their wings can be speckled grayish tan or even almost black as with an eastern species. Some western rivers have astounding populations. See Glossosomatidae for more information.
I caught this tiny larva without a case, but it seems to key pretty clearly to to Glossosomatidae. From there, the lack of sclerites on the mesonotum points to either Glossosoma or Anagapetus. Although it's difficult to see in a 2D image from the microscope, it's pretty clear in the live 3D view that the pronotum is only excised about 1/3 of its length to accommodate the forecoxa, not 2/3, which points to Glossosoma at Couplet 5 of the Key to Genera of Glossosomatidae Larvae.
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