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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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Lateral view of a Female Perlesta (Perlidae) (Golden Stone) Stonefly Adult from Enfield Creek in New York
This stonefly species was the most common insect over the small stream I fished one August afternoon; I saw dozens in their egg-laying flights.
GONZO
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"Bear Swamp," PA

Posts: 1681
GONZO on Sep 9, 2008September 9th, 2008, 1:01 pm EDT
I don't think this is Isoperla or even a perlodid. The little perlids of the genus Perlesta are frequently mistaken for Isoperla. Although there are a few exceptions, most Eastern Isoperla are spring or early summer emergers. Perlesta tends to be more of a summer emerger. In general appearance, the amber, brownish, or blackish wings with yellow borders are common to many Perlesta species. The nearly concolorous pronotum (often with a similar rugose pattern) and the variable darkening of the ocellar triangle are also typical of many species in this genus. Looking closer, the third photo shows long bristles along the lower front edge of the forefemur. As far as I know, these bristles are found in perlids and chloroperlids, but not in Isoperla.

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