Lateral view of a Female Hexagenia limbata (Ephemeridae) (Hex) Mayfly Dun from the Namekagon River in Wisconsin

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.

Stream photos

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Onocosmoecus (Great Late-Summer Sedge) Caddisfly Larva Onocosmoecus (Great Late-Summer Sedge) Caddisfly Larva

Lateral view of a Onocosmoecus (Limnephilidae) (Great Late-Summer Sedge) Caddisfly Larva from the Yakima River in Washington

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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27" brown trout, my largest ever. It was the sub-dominant fish in its pool. After this, I hooked the bigger one, but I couldn't land it.

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Formicidae (Ant) Insect Adult Pictures

I collected this flying ant from the surface of a popular Catskill trout stream, where its species prompted steady rising from selective trout for several late-morning hours. It was mixed with smaller ants of a different color, and I photographed one of them too.

Lateral view of a Formicidae (Ant) Insect Adult from the Neversink River in New York

Formicidae (Ant) Insect Adult from the Neversink River in New York

Ventral view of a Formicidae (Ant) Insect Adult from the Neversink River in New York

Ruler view of a Formicidae (Ant) Insect Adult from the Neversink River in New York The smallest ruler marks are 1 mm.

Dorsal view of a Formicidae (Ant) Insect Adult from the Neversink River in New York

This insect was collected from the Neversink River in New York on September 5th, 2006 and added to Troutnut.com by Troutnut on October 3rd, 2006.

Discussions of this Adult

Two ants together -- same species or different?

1 replies

Posted by Troutnut on Oct 3, 2006

Last reply on Oct 24, 2006 by Troutnut

I had a great morning fishing to flying ants in the Catskills on September 5th. At least a few fish were rising steadily in every pool on my selected stretch of the Neversink, and flying ants were abundant in the air and on the water for hours.

There were two types of ants which I collected and photographed this large, rusty-tinted variety and a smaller type. I'm curious: were they two different species, or different-looking males and females of the same species?

Many ants were descending to the water in pairs, presumably mating. I hadn't yet noticed the difference in sizes, so I didn't check to see if each pair had one large and one small ant.

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