Salmonflies
Pteronarcys californica
The giant Salmonflies of the Western mountains are legendary for their proclivity to elicit consistent dry-fly action and ferocious strikes.
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I caught this tiny larva without a case, but it seems to key pretty clearly to to Glossosomatidae. From there, the lack of sclerites on the mesonotum points to either Glossosoma or Anagapetus. Although it's difficult to see in a 2D image from the microscope, it's pretty clear in the live 3D view that the pronotum is only excised about 1/3 of its length to accommodate the forecoxa, not 2/3, which points to Glossosoma at Couplet 5 of the Key to Genera of Glossosomatidae Larvae.
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I wish I had photographed this one against a ruler or some kind of size reference. The genus ID is confident, and I am very tentatively calling it Eurylophella minimella based on the keys in Allen & Edmunds (1963) and the following judgment of its characteristics:
1. Has a "medium" rather than "large" tubercle on the styliger plate between the forceps bases (pretty sure)
2. Body and legs not sprinkled with fine brown dots (obvious)
3. Tails with dark annulations at the apex of each segment (obvious)
4. Terga brown and sterna pale; sterna 2-7 lacking large dark brown median macula, but each having 4 dark dots (pretty sure)
5. Penes widest near base, not mid-length (pretty sure)
6. Penes with a "shield-shaped" rather than "oblong" subapical excavation (not sure)
7. Dark brown apical macula on femora "distinct" rather than "faint" (very unsure on this judgment call)
If i'm wrong, i'm mostly likely wrong about point 7, which would make this Eurylophella verisimilis instead (forewings 8–9 mm long, vs 6–7 for minimella). If i'm wrong about point 6 (also very possible), the options would be Eurylophella aestiva and Eurylophella bicolor.
1. Has a "medium" rather than "large" tubercle on the styliger plate between the forceps bases (pretty sure)
2. Body and legs not sprinkled with fine brown dots (obvious)
3. Tails with dark annulations at the apex of each segment (obvious)
4. Terga brown and sterna pale; sterna 2-7 lacking large dark brown median macula, but each having 4 dark dots (pretty sure)
5. Penes widest near base, not mid-length (pretty sure)
6. Penes with a "shield-shaped" rather than "oblong" subapical excavation (not sure)
7. Dark brown apical macula on femora "distinct" rather than "faint" (very unsure on this judgment call)
If i'm wrong, i'm mostly likely wrong about point 7, which would make this Eurylophella verisimilis instead (forewings 8–9 mm long, vs 6–7 for minimella). If i'm wrong about point 6 (also very possible), the options would be Eurylophella aestiva and Eurylophella bicolor.
Troutnut on Jul 10, 2006July 10th, 2006, 8:27 am EDT
I've got several specimens of this small Ephemerellid species, and my best guess is Ephemerella needhami, but I'm still unsure. There are species of Eurylophella with similar stripes whose nymphs were common at the same time and in the same general location, but I didn't do really comprehensive nymph collection.
Jason Neuswanger, Ph.D.
Troutnut and salmonid ecologist
Troutnut and salmonid ecologist