Hex Mayflies
Hexagenia limbata
The famous nocturnal Hex hatch of the Midwest (and a few other lucky locations) stirs to the surface mythically large brown trout that only touch streamers for the rest of the year.
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This one pretty clearly keys to Kogotus, but it also looks fairly different from specimens I caught in the same creek about a month later in the year. With only one species of the genus known in Washington, I'm not sure about the answer to this ID.
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Caddisfly Family Lepidostomatidae (Little Brown Sedges)
See Lepidostoma for details. It's the only important genus in this family.
The other one, Theliopsyche, is an uncommon Eastern small stream genus.
The other one, Theliopsyche, is an uncommon Eastern small stream genus.
Family Range
Specimens of the Caddisfly Family Lepidostomatidae
3 Male Adults
On an evening filled with millions of caddisflies, this one stood out as the only one of its kind that found its way into my net. Dave Ruiter identified it from the photos as a Lepidostoma specimen in the pluviale species group.
2 Female Adults
This one has a neat iridescent sheen to its wings.
See the discussion for details on this fly's tentative ID.
See the discussion for details on this fly's tentative ID.
These specimens are still alive, just very cold, so the colors are accurate. I put them in the freezer for a bit to settle them down and overdid it a little:)
5 Larvae
This one got a little bit damaged in the abdomen when I extracted it from its case. That's a delicate job.
The photo of the specimen cased is alive. The photo of the uncased larva is the same specimen taken after it was preserved in its case. Unfortunately, there was a lot of pigment transfer making the specimen look olivaceous. In life it was grayish white as shown in the first photo.
Start a Discussion of Lepidostomatidae
References
- LaFontaine, Gary. 1981. Caddisflies. The Lyons Press.
- Swisher, Doug and Carl Richards. 2000. Selective Trout. The Lyons Press.
Caddisfly Family Lepidostomatidae (Little Brown Sedges)
Taxonomy
Genus in Lepidostomatidae: Lepidostoma, Theliopsyche