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 one was surprisingly straightforward to identify. The lack of a sclerite at the base of the lateral hump narrows the field quite a bit, and the other options followed fairly obvious characteristics to Clostoeca, which only has one species, Clostoeca disjuncta.
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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.
