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 specimen keys to the Epeorus albertae group of species. Of the five species in that group, the two known in Washington state are Epeorus albertae and Epeorus dulciana. Of the two, albertae has been collected in vastly more locations in Washington than dulciana, suggesting it is far more common. On that basis alone I'm tentatively putting this nymph in albertae, with the large caveat that there's no real information to rule out dulciana.
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Stonefly Genus Zapada (Tiny Winter Blacks)
Where & when
In 118 records from GBIF, adults of this genus have mostly been collected during April (32%), March (19%), May (11%), February (10%), June (10%), July (8%), and January (5%).
In 80 records from GBIF, this genus has been collected at elevations ranging from 34 to 11135 ft, with an average (median) of 6755 ft.
Genus Range
Specimens of the Stonefly Genus Zapada
2 Female Adults
From N. Touchet River at Touchet Corral.
1 Adult
1 Nymph
Nymphs of this species were fairly common in late-winter kick net samples from the upper Yakima River. Although I could not find a key to species of Zapada nymphs, a revision of the Nemouridae family by Baumann (1975) includes the following helpful sentence: "2 cervical gills on each side of midline, 1 arising inside and 1 outside of lateral cervical sclerites, usually single and elongate, sometimes constricted but with 3 or 4 branches arising beyond gill base in Zapada cinctipes." This specimen clearly has the branches and is within the range of that species.
Start a Discussion of Zapada
References
- Baumann, Richard W. 1975. Revision of the Stonefly Family Nemouridae (plecoptera) : a Study Of The World Fauna At The Generic Level. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology undef(211): 1-74.
Stonefly Genus Zapada (Tiny Winter Blacks)
Taxonomy
Species in Zapada: Zapada cinctipes, Zapada columbiana
7 species (Zapada chila, Zapada cordillera, Zapada frigida, Zapada glacier, Zapada haysi, Zapada katahdin, and Zapada oregonensis) aren't included.