The giant Salmonflies of the Western mountains are legendary for their proclivity to elicit consistent dry-fly action and ferocious strikes.
Most physical descriptions on Troutnut are direct or slightly edited quotes from the original scientific sources describing or updating the species, although there may be errors in copying them to this website. Such descriptions aren't always definitive, because species often turn out to be more variable than the original describers observed. In some cases, only a single specimen was described! However, they are useful starting points.
Source: A Scanning Electron Microscopy Study Of The Epiprocts Of Western North American Sweltsa (Plecoptera: Chloroperlidae)
Male epiproct. Total length ca. 600 - 654 µm, basal width ca. 230 - 260 µm, greatest width ca. 400 - 430 µm. Epiproct somewhat saggitate in outline with upturned tip and broad apically expanded mesal groove (Figs. 13 - 16). Dorsal surface bearing dense pile of short, multifilament setae (Fig. 17); ventral surface glabrous. Dorsal process. Located on tergum 9. Total width ca. 180 - 190 µm, median notch shallow, ca. 100 - 140 µm wide. Process broadly bilobed (Fig. 18).