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.
Option 1 | Option 2 |
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Foretibiae each typically with preapical spur (sf 19.567) | Foretibiae without preapical spurs |
If preapical spur absent, then basal segment of tarsus shorter than twice the length of the longer apical spur (as in sf 19.567) | Basal segment of each tarsus at least twice the length of the longer apical spur (sf 19.569) |
Remaining families: Dipseudopsidae, Ecnomidae, and Polycentropodidae | |
1 Example SpecimenThis specimen is certainly Nyctiophylax and most likely Nyctiophylax affinis. I don't know my caddisfly parts well enough to definitively follow the Nyctiophylax key in Morse (1972), but that source states that affinis is the predominant Midwestern species, being widespread and common in the region where I found this one. The anatomy of this one seems to match those at least as well as the other two potential options based on range, Nyctiophylax uncus and Nyctiophylax banksi.
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Go to Couplet 22 | Psychomyiidae |