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Lateral view of a Female Hexagenia limbata (Ephemeridae) (Hex) Mayfly Dun from the Namekagon River in Wisconsin
Hex Mayflies
Hexagenia limbata

The famous nocturnal Hex hatch of the Midwest (and a few other lucky locations) stirs to the surface mythically large brown trout that only touch streamers for the rest of the year.

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 Neophylax (Thremmatidae) (Autumn Mottled Sedge) Caddisfly Adult from Mystery Creek #43 in New York
This large caddisfly looks really neat close-up.
Taxon
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Site Editor
Plano, TX

Posts: 1311
Taxon on Oct 4, 2006October 4th, 2006, 1:53 pm EDT
Jason-

Looks like Hydrospyche to me, most likely H. betteni. However, if you've keyed it out to Phryganeidae, I'm probably wrong.
Best regards,
Roger Rohrbeck
www.FlyfishingEntomology.com
GONZO
Site Editor
"Bear Swamp," PA

Posts: 1681
GONZO on Oct 5, 2006October 5th, 2006, 8:02 am EDT
My first impression was that the wing didn't have quite the degree of recurve typical of Hydropsyche. The photo of the maxillary palp seems conclusive in ruling out this genus (the fifth segment would be much longer in Hydropsyche).

The pattern of spurs on the legs seems to follow Limnephilidae (1, 2-3, 4) rather than Phryganeidae (2, 4, 4); and the five-segmented palp would be female (in either family). Size, color, habitat, and season all seem to suggest Limnephilus (Summer Flier Sedge) as the likely genus to me; but the Limnephilidae are known as an "unruly" family, and some caddisflies just confuse the hell out of me.

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