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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Mayfly Family Siphlonuridae (Gray Drakes)
These large, slender mayflies have nymphs of the swimming type, like Isonychiidae and Metretopodidae, and they generally inhabit slow water. See Siphlonurus for details -- it is the only genus of known importance to anglers.
Family Range
Identification
To determine whether a specimen of Ephemeroptera belongs to Siphlonuridae, use the Key to Families of Mayfly Nymphs or Key to Families of Mayfly Duns and Spinners.
Specimens of the Mayfly Family Siphlonuridae
2 Female Duns
I caught this specimen two days' walk from my macro lenses, but I don't think I have a dun of this species yet, so I took the best photos I could with my iPhone.
This one hatched in my house after I brought some nymphs home to photograph.
5 Male Spinners
Egg-laying females of this species were the most noticeable insect over the water at dusk on this small trout stream in Wisconsin's Blue Hills. I caught several of them and photographed one, but this was the only male, netted in mid-air mated to one of the females.
This specimen was easy to key to species using the old keys in < id="115" />, and was the basis for IDs of several other Siphlonurus specimens of the same species collected on the same day.
7 Female Spinners
I'm tentatively classifying this one as Siphlonurus alternatus, because it seems to fit that species best in the old keys in Needham's Biology of Mayflies, but I'm hesitant because I can't find documentation that southwest Montana or the surrounding area is within the species' range, although they are widely distributed throughout eastern North American and western Canada.
Egg-laying females of this species were the most noticeable insect over the water at dusk on this small trout stream in Wisconsin's Blue Hills. I caught several of them along with one male netted in mid-air mated to one of the females.
I found this specimen and saw a few more of its kind during midday on a small, steep, rocky creek fairly high in the Cascades, different from the previously reported habitats of its species.
This specimen was identified by association with this male.
This one had some trouble molting out of the dun stage, but I took pictures anyway.
10 Nymphs
I photographed this nymph in the middle of molting between one instar and the next (not hatching).
This specimen was the first record from Montana and the first record from the mountain west except Alberta where it was first described. It was found in temporary ponds.The nymph has double gills on all segments. The abdominal stripe is an important feature for identification
This species emerges very late in the fall often along with Siphlonurus autumnalis just before ice forms on edges of streams.
3 Underwater Pictures of Siphlonuridae Mayflies:
Several fast-swimming Siphlonurus nymphs blend in very well with the silt in this slow backwater along a trout stream.
In this picture: Mayfly Genus Siphlonurus (Gray Drake).
Start a Discussion of Siphlonuridae
Mayfly Family Siphlonuridae (Gray Drakes)
Taxonomy
1 genus (Edmundsius) isn't included.