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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.

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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Dorsal view of a Pteronarcys dorsata (Pteronarcyidae) (Salmonfly) Stonefly Nymph from the Namekagon River in Wisconsin
Adirman
Adirman's profile picture
Monticello, NY

Posts: 479
Adirman on Sep 10, 2010September 10th, 2010, 11:06 pm EDT
Hey, what'sm with those wierd fuzzy looking things under its belly and forearms? Is that some sort of traction thing for sticking to stuff?
Taxon
Taxon's profile picture
Site Editor
Plano, TX

Posts: 1311
Taxon on Sep 11, 2010September 11th, 2010, 3:55 am EDT
Adirman-

Interesting guess, but those are called gills, and are used to "breathe" dissolved oxygen from the water. Stonefly family generally determines whether or not gills are possessed, where they are located on the body, and the form they take, finger-like or filamentous, simple or branched, etc.
Best regards,
Roger Rohrbeck
www.FlyfishingEntomology.com
Adirman
Adirman's profile picture
Monticello, NY

Posts: 479
Adirman on Sep 11, 2010September 11th, 2010, 5:56 am EDT
Taxon;

Thanks for the info!!

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