Blue-winged Olives
Baetis
Tiny Baetis mayflies are perhaps the most commonly encountered and imitated by anglers on all American trout streams due to their great abundance, widespread distribution, and trout-friendly emergence habits.
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This is an interesting one. Following the keys in Merritt R.W., Cummins, K.W., and Berg, M.B. (2019) and Jacobus et al. (2014), it keys clearly to Ephemerella. Jacobus et al provide a key to species, but some of the characteristics are tricky to interpret without illustrations. If I didn't make any mistakes, this one keys to Ephemerella mucronata, which has not previously been reported any closer to here than Montana and Alberta. The main character seems to fit well: "Abdominal terga with prominent, paired, subparallel, spiculate ridges." Several illustrations or descriptions of this holarctic species from the US and Europe seem to match, including the body length, tarsal claws and denticles, labial palp, and gill shapes. These sources include including Richard Allen's original description of this species in North America under the now-defunct name E. moffatae in Allen RK (1977) and the figures in this description of the species in Italy.
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True Fly Family Ptychopteridae (Phantom Crane Flies)
See Tipulidae for details about craneflies. This family is not known to differ from them in any ways important to anglers except appearance.
This family has evolved a really unusual feature for an insect: its legs also serve the function of wings. The tibiae are greatly enlarged and help catch the wind. The legs usually have white tips, making them very easily identifiable in flight. There is a ghostly look to a dark, sparse insect flying around the stream, usually alone, with the fixed bright white points of its leg tips surrounding it like a halo.
This family has evolved a really unusual feature for an insect: its legs also serve the function of wings. The tibiae are greatly enlarged and help catch the wind. The legs usually have white tips, making them very easily identifiable in flight. There is a ghostly look to a dark, sparse insect flying around the stream, usually alone, with the fixed bright white points of its leg tips surrounding it like a halo.
Specimens of Phantom Crane Flies:
2 Larvae
Start a Discussion of Ptychopteridae
References
- Jacobus, L. M., Wiersema, N.A., and Webb, J.M. 2014. Identification of Far Northern and Western North American Mayfly Larvae (Insecta: Ephemeroptera), North of Mexico; Version 2. Joint Aquatic Science meeting, Portland, OR. Unpublished workshop manual. 1-176.
- Merritt R.W., Cummins, K.W., and Berg, M.B. 2019. An Introduction to the Aquatic Insects of North America (Fifth Edition). Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company.