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Artistic view of a Male Pteronarcys californica (Pteronarcyidae) (Giant Salmonfly) Stonefly Adult from the Gallatin River in Montana
Salmonflies
Pteronarcys californica

The giant Salmonflies of the Western mountains are legendary for their proclivity to elicit consistent dry-fly action and ferocious strikes.

Case view of a Pycnopsyche guttifera (Limnephilidae) (Great Autumn Brown Sedge) Caddisfly Larva from the Yakima River in Washington
It's only barely visible in one of my pictures, but I confirmed under the microscope that this one has a prosternal horn and the antennae are mid-way between the eyes and front of the head capsule.

I'm calling this one Pycnopsyche, but it's a bit perplexing. It seems to key definitively to at least Couplet 8 of the Key to Genera of Limnephilidae Larvae. That narrows it down to three genera, and the case seems wrong for the other two. The case looks right for Pycnopsyche, and it fits one of the key characteristics: "Abdominal sternum II without chloride epithelium and abdominal segment IX with only single seta on each side of dorsal sclerite." However, the characteristic "metanotal sa1 sclerites not fused, although often contiguous" does not seem to fit well. Those sclerites sure look fused to me, although I can make out a thin groove in the touching halves in the anterior half under the microscope. Perhaps this is a regional variation.

The only species of Pycnopsyche documented in Washington state is Pycnopsyche guttifera, and the colors and markings around the head of this specimen seem to match very well a specimen of that species from Massachusetts on Bugguide. So I am placing it in that species for now.

Whatever species this is, I photographed another specimen of seemingly the same species from the same spot a couple months later.
27" brown trout, my largest ever. It was the sub-dominant fish in its pool. After this, I hooked the bigger one, but I couldn't land it.
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Stonefly Genus Allocapnia (Little Snowflies)

Allocapnia granulata is the most abundant Capniidae species in the East.

Where & when

In 615 records from GBIF, adults of this genus have mostly been collected during March (29%), February (26%), January (20%), December (11%), and April (10%).

In 82 records from GBIF, this genus has been collected at elevations ranging from 125 to 4856 ft, with an average (median) of 3182 ft.

Genus Range

Discussions of Allocapnia

Little Black Stonefly pics
12 replies
Posted by Adirman on Apr 14, 2018 in the species Allocapnia granulata
Last reply on Apr 21, 2018 by Martinlf
Hey guys, went out on the Neversink for awhile today and had a look around, saw a lot of little dark flies, may be the little black stone fly? Hard to tell cuz looked like Caddis too. Looks like about a size 16? Any pics of available of this species would be great.


Thanks

Start a Discussion of Allocapnia

Stonefly Genus Allocapnia (Little Snowflies)

Taxonomy
16 species (Allocapnia brooksi, Allocapnia frisoni, Allocapnia fumosa, Allocapnia illinoensis, Allocapnia jeanae, Allocapnia loshada, Allocapnia malverna, Allocapnia mohri, Allocapnia oribata, Allocapnia peltoides, Allocapnia recta, Allocapnia simmonsi, Allocapnia tennessa, Allocapnia vivipara, Allocapnia warreni, and Allocapnia wrayi) aren't included.
Genus Range
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