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Lateral view of a Male Baetis (Baetidae) (Blue-Winged Olive) Mayfly Dun from Mystery Creek #43 in New York
Blue-winged Olives
Baetis

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.

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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DayTripper
DayTripper's profile picture
Northern MI

Posts: 70
DayTripper on May 12, 2008May 12th, 2008, 8:26 am EDT
Here are some bugs I found waiting for the Hendricksons to pop this weekend on the Battenkill. I believe this first one to be Maccaffertium vicarium



Here's some others I haven't identified yet







I've got different angles on the Hendrickson Spinner, and the Brown Stone, as well as the Beetle- if they're needed. Also some more pics of different vicarium nymphs, some have a slightly different coloration.
GONZO
Site Editor
"Bear Swamp," PA

Posts: 1681
GONZO on May 12, 2008May 12th, 2008, 9:23 am EDT
Just on a quick glance:

The vicarium ID on the heptageniid nymph seems reasonable; the stonefly nymph looks like a perlodid; the (male) Hendrickson spinner ID seems right (though missing a tail); the big beetle looks like some sort of "borer," but I have no clue about the hitchhiker; the caddisfly larva is a hydropsychid; and I'd guess that the stonefly adult could be in Taeniopterygidae. (Dave could probably sort that out for you.)
DayTripper
DayTripper's profile picture
Northern MI

Posts: 70
DayTripper on May 12, 2008May 12th, 2008, 2:52 pm EDT
Raider83
Indiana

Posts: 4
Raider83 on Jun 27, 2008June 27th, 2008, 6:24 am EDT
Daytripper, I think the mystery larva is a predaceous diving beetle larva
GONZO
Site Editor
"Bear Swamp," PA

Posts: 1681
GONZO on Jun 27, 2008June 27th, 2008, 10:48 am EDT
Raider83,

Some Dytiscidae larvae have a superficial resemblance to some caddisfly larvae. If this larva had been photographed in the water (and from different angles), I think the differences would be easier to see.

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