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 pretty easily to Onocosmoecus, and it closely resembles a specimen from Alaska which caddis expert Dave Ruiter recognized as this genus. As with that specimen, the only species in the genus documented in this area is Onocosmoecus unicolor, but Dave suggested for that specimen that there might be multiple not-yet-distinguished species under the unicolor umbrella and it would be best to stick with the genus-level ID. I'm doing the same for this one.
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Caddisfly Species Brachycentrus appalachia (Apple Caddisflies)
This is a "wind-shield wiper" hatch -- it slows traffic on the freeway which winds through the valleys of several famous trout streams in the Catskills, which have thick hatches of the Apple Caddis in the Spring.
The common name comes from the bright apple-green color of its abdomen.
The common name comes from the bright apple-green color of its abdomen.
Where & when
This species produces intense, reliable hatches in the Catskills sometime in between the peaks of Ephemerella subvaria (Hendricksons) and Ephemerella invaria (Sulphurs).Special thanks to Lloyd Gonzales, author of the excellent book Fly-Fishing Pressured Water, for helping to sort out the Brachycentrus species and common names.
In 2 records from GBIF, adults of this species have been collected during May (50%) and April (50%).
In 1 record from GBIF, this species has been collected at elevation of 1614 ft.
Species Range
Specimens of the Caddisfly Species Brachycentrus appalachia
3 Adults
I captured this specimen in the same color as this photograph, during its egg-laying flight. The emergers are much lighter.
The wings of this specimen were pale tan, almost white, when I collected it, and the body was of the lighter "apple green" from which this species gets its common name. Everything turned much darker by the time I got it home and under the camera.
The wings look even darker in some of these pictures because the background is black and the wings are unusually translucent. You can see that in one of the pictures where the body easily through the wings. They're really a light, translucent gray, which is still far from the pale tan of the same fly when it was freshly emerged.
The wings look even darker in some of these pictures because the background is black and the wings are unusually translucent. You can see that in one of the pictures where the body easily through the wings. They're really a light, translucent gray, which is still far from the pale tan of the same fly when it was freshly emerged.
3 Underwater Pictures of Brachycentrus appalachia Caddisflies:
A Brachycentrus "Apple Caddis" pupa scoots around in the surface film. Apparently it had some difficulty emerging, so I was able to slip my camera underneath it and take a picture from below.
In this picture: Caddisfly Species Brachycentrus appalachia (Apple Caddis).
This picture from below shows a stillborn Ephemerella subvaria (Hendrickson) dun drifting on the surface amidst a number of shed pupal skins from Brachycentrus caddisflies which were heavily hatching that day.
This Brachycentrus "Apple Caddis" struggled more than its kin in escaping its pupal skin, enabling me to take an underwater picture of it from directly below. This is sort of a trout's eye view, but I used the flash for the picture so the transparent shuck appears far brighter than it really is.
In this picture: Caddisfly Species Brachycentrus appalachia (Apple Caddis).
Discussions of Brachycentrus appalachia
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References
- Gonzales, Lloyd. 2005. Fly-Fishing Pressured Water. Stackpole Books.
Caddisfly Species Brachycentrus appalachia (Apple Caddisflies)
Species Range
Common Names
Resources
- NatureServe
- Integrated Taxonomic Information System
- Global Biodiversity Information Facility
- Described by Flint (1984)