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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This one seems to tentatively key to Holocentropus, although I can't make out the anal spines in Couplet 7 of the Key to Genera of Polycentropodidae Larvae nor the dark bands in Couplet 4 of the Key to Genera of Polycentropodidae Larvae, making me wonder if I went wrong somewhere in keying it out. I don't see where that could have happened, though. It might also be that it's a very immature larva and doesn't possess all the identifying characteristics in the key yet. If Holocentropus is correct, then Holocentropus flavus and Holocentropus interruptus are the two likely possibilities based on range, but I was not able to find a description of their larvae.
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Troutnut on Feb 3, 2010February 3rd, 2010, 6:54 am EST
Everyone seems to be having fun trying to guess the locations of the header pictures, even with the disadvantage that some of them are nearly unguessable. So I'm going to start up a series of pictures that are guessable, but still really difficult, and see how you guys do. Here's the first one, from the Catskills:
(Link to full-size)
(Link to full-size)
Jason Neuswanger, Ph.D.
Troutnut and salmonid ecologist
Troutnut and salmonid ecologist