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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.

Dorsal view of a Ephemerella mucronata (Ephemerellidae) Mayfly Nymph from the Yakima River in Washington
This is an interesting one. Following the keys in Merritt R.W., Cummins, K.W., and Berg, M.B. (2019) and Jacobus et al. (2014), it keys clearly to Ephemerella. Jacobus et al provide a key to species, but some of the characteristics are tricky to interpret without illustrations. If I didn't make any mistakes, this one keys to Ephemerella mucronata, which has not previously been reported any closer to here than Montana and Alberta. The main character seems to fit well: "Abdominal terga with prominent, paired, subparallel, spiculate ridges." Several illustrations or descriptions of this holarctic species from the US and Europe seem to match, including the body length, tarsal claws and denticles, labial palp, and gill shapes. These sources include including Richard Allen's original description of this species in North America under the now-defunct name E. moffatae in Allen RK (1977) and the figures in this description of the species in Italy.
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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Wiflyfisher
Wiflyfisher's profile picture
Wisconsin

Posts: 622
Wiflyfisher on Jul 11, 2008July 11th, 2008, 7:02 am EDT
I thought others might enjoy reading this article...

http://www.lacrossetribune.com/articles/2008/07/11/news/03mayflowers11.txt
Teddyp
North Carolina

Posts: 18
Teddyp on Jul 11, 2008July 11th, 2008, 9:57 am EDT
That's awesome!
Ted
GONZO
Site Editor
"Bear Swamp," PA

Posts: 1681
GONZO on Jul 14, 2008July 14th, 2008, 8:46 am EDT
Cool, John. For those who haven't seen Doppler tracking of Hex swarms before, here's a link to the PSU Behrend site that has several neat little movies and an explanation of how the Doppler tracking is done:

http://paaquaticfliesrus.bd.psu.edu/webroot/mayflies.asp
Wiflyfisher
Wiflyfisher's profile picture
Wisconsin

Posts: 622
Wiflyfisher on Jul 14, 2008July 14th, 2008, 1:46 pm EDT
Gonzo, Interesting! I would guess the size of the insects hatching and the density of the hatch has to be pretty amazing to show up. In my experience I have only heard of it on radar for the Hex. hatch, no other mayflies.

The E. luekon/album hatch I have seen on a couple occasions extremely dense as well and covered some bridges, but I have not heard of it on droppler radar.

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