Updates from May 28, 2007

This specimen seems to be of the same species as a dun I photographed which emerged from another nymph in the same sample.

This dun emerged from a nymph in one of the bowls on my table while I was sorting. I photographed it with the nymphal shuck, and it seems to be of the same species as a nymph I photographed from the same sample.

I keyed this nymph carefully under a microscope to check that it's Ephemerella dorothea.

This nymph is missing a few gills, but is otherwise in good shape. It was the only one of its species which turned up in my sample.

This specimen was completely green when I collected it from among many others gathered on a midstream rock along with their nymphal shucks early in the morning. There was also a yellow one with them, which I assumed was a different species. Now that I've seen how this one started changing from green to yellow, I have to wonder if they weren't the same species and the yellow one was just older.

I caught this inchworm lowering itself to the surface of a trout stream from its silk thread. I saw a couple others floating on the surface, so it's likely the trout were familiar with them.

This is a really strange specimen. I would guess it's one of the dry caddis pupa that scoots across the surface of the water as a pupa rather than emerging right away. Its "wing pads" sure don't look right, though. Maybe they're deformed and that's why I was able to find this one as a pupa in the first place. It also looks like it might be a caddis adult missing its wings, but since I found three of them, that kind of rules out such an anomalous maiming. I found this one and one other on a midstream rock. The previous day, I caught a similar creature kicking around on the water's surface. This one died and shriveled a little bit before I could photograph it, but it's basically in its original shape.