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Artistic view of a Male Pteronarcys californica (Pteronarcyidae) (Giant Salmonfly) Stonefly Adult from the Gallatin River in Montana
Salmonflies
Pteronarcys californica

The giant Salmonflies of the Western mountains are legendary for their proclivity to elicit consistent dry-fly action and ferocious strikes.

Case view of a Pycnopsyche guttifera (Limnephilidae) (Great Autumn Brown Sedge) Caddisfly Larva from the Yakima River in Washington
It's only barely visible in one of my pictures, but I confirmed under the microscope that this one has a prosternal horn and the antennae are mid-way between the eyes and front of the head capsule.

I'm calling this one Pycnopsyche, but it's a bit perplexing. It seems to key definitively to at least Couplet 8 of the Key to Genera of Limnephilidae Larvae. That narrows it down to three genera, and the case seems wrong for the other two. The case looks right for Pycnopsyche, and it fits one of the key characteristics: "Abdominal sternum II without chloride epithelium and abdominal segment IX with only single seta on each side of dorsal sclerite." However, the characteristic "metanotal sa1 sclerites not fused, although often contiguous" does not seem to fit well. Those sclerites sure look fused to me, although I can make out a thin groove in the touching halves in the anterior half under the microscope. Perhaps this is a regional variation.

The only species of Pycnopsyche documented in Washington state is Pycnopsyche guttifera, and the colors and markings around the head of this specimen seem to match very well a specimen of that species from Massachusetts on Bugguide. So I am placing it in that species for now.

Whatever species this is, I photographed another specimen of seemingly the same species from the same spot a couple months later.
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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Belostoma flumineum (Electric Light Bug) Giant Water Bug Adult Pictures

I'm glad I finally got one of these Belostoma water bugs under my good camera. I had been hoping to get one in my kick-net samples for a while with no luck, but I ended up finding this one drifting midstream just below the surface while I fished. I have frequently seen water scorpions do that, too, and I'm beginning to suspect that is a common situation travel for these large Hemiptera bugs, and perhaps the way trout are used to seeing them.

Ruler view of a Belostoma flumineum (Belostomatidae) (Electric Light Bug) Giant Water Bug Adult from the West Branch of Owego Creek in New York The smallest ruler marks are 1 mm.
Dorsal view of a Belostoma flumineum (Belostomatidae) (Electric Light Bug) Giant Water Bug Adult from the West Branch of Owego Creek in New York
Ventral view of a Belostoma flumineum (Belostomatidae) (Electric Light Bug) Giant Water Bug Adult from the West Branch of Owego Creek in New York
The bottom side of this bug was quite shiny, maybe iridescent, but in a way that's hard to capture in a photo.  I tried to do it with this one but it doesn't show up well.  It was very hard to photograph this thing's bottom side at all, because it was so quick and adept at flipping itself back over.

Belostoma flumineum (Belostomatidae) (Electric Light Bug) Giant Water Bug Adult from the West Branch of Owego Creek in New York
Belostoma flumineum (Belostomatidae) (Electric Light Bug) Giant Water Bug Adult from the West Branch of Owego Creek in New York
Belostoma flumineum (Belostomatidae) (Electric Light Bug) Giant Water Bug Adult from the West Branch of Owego Creek in New York
Giant water bug. This dangerous aquatic predator belongs to the species Belostoma flumineum, in a family known as the "toebiters"

Artistic view of a Belostoma flumineum (Belostomatidae) (Electric Light Bug) Giant Water Bug Adult from the West Branch of Owego Creek in New York
Belostoma flumineum (Belostomatidae) (Electric Light Bug) Giant Water Bug Adult from the West Branch of Owego Creek in New York
Belostoma flumineum (Belostomatidae) (Electric Light Bug) Giant Water Bug Adult from the West Branch of Owego Creek in New York
Belostoma flumineum (Belostomatidae) (Electric Light Bug) Giant Water Bug Adult from the West Branch of Owego Creek in New York
Belostoma flumineum (Belostomatidae) (Electric Light Bug) Giant Water Bug Adult from the West Branch of Owego Creek in New York
Belostoma flumineum (Belostomatidae) (Electric Light Bug) Giant Water Bug Adult from the West Branch of Owego Creek in New York
This is one of my favorite pictures.  Belostoma and other Hemiptera bugs aren't fully aquatic, and when I stuck this one in my aquarium it quickly crawled out of the water and up to the highest point, a pair of tiny mushrooms growing on a soggy log.

Artistic view of a Belostoma flumineum (Belostomatidae) (Electric Light Bug) Giant Water Bug Adult from the West Branch of Owego Creek in New York
Belostoma flumineum (Belostomatidae) (Electric Light Bug) Giant Water Bug Adult from the West Branch of Owego Creek in New York

This giant water bug was collected from the West Branch of Owego Creek in New York on April 24th, 2007 and added to Troutnut.com by Troutnut on April 24th, 2007.

Discussions of this Adult

Check this bug out
8 replies
Posted by Troutnut on Apr 24, 2007
Last reply on Dec 10, 2009 by Jmd123
This is a new favorite specimen of mine.

I'll have a video up featuring this one showing its swimming posture, too.

Start a Discussion of Adult

Belostoma flumineum (Electric Light Bug) Giant Water Bug Adult Pictures

Collection details
Location: West Branch of Owego Creek, New York
Date: April 24th, 2007
Added to site: April 24th, 2007
Author: Troutnut
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