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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.

Dorsal view of a Ephemerella mucronata (Ephemerellidae) Mayfly Nymph from the Yakima River in Washington
This is an interesting one. Following the keys in Merritt R.W., Cummins, K.W., and Berg, M.B. (2019) and Jacobus et al. (2014), it keys clearly to Ephemerella. Jacobus et al provide a key to species, but some of the characteristics are tricky to interpret without illustrations. If I didn't make any mistakes, this one keys to Ephemerella mucronata, which has not previously been reported any closer to here than Montana and Alberta. The main character seems to fit well: "Abdominal terga with prominent, paired, subparallel, spiculate ridges." Several illustrations or descriptions of this holarctic species from the US and Europe seem to match, including the body length, tarsal claws and denticles, labial palp, and gill shapes. These sources include including Richard Allen's original description of this species in North America under the now-defunct name E. moffatae in Allen RK (1977) and the figures in this description of the species in Italy.
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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Closeup insects by Bnewell from the Touchet River in Washington

Female Baetis (Baetidae) (Blue-Winged Olive) Mayfly Dun from the Touchet River in Washington

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GONZO
Site Editor
"Bear Swamp," PA

Posts: 1681
GONZO on Jul 2, 2011July 2nd, 2011, 8:42 am EDT
This appears to be a female dun.
Troutnut
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Administrator
Bellevue, WA

Posts: 2758
Troutnut on Jul 2, 2011July 2nd, 2011, 1:40 pm EDT
Thanks Lloyd. I fixed it. When someone is adding as many new specimens as Bob has lately, it's easy to accidentally skip over one of the little dropdown menus and leave it set to the default, and the site doesn't have automatic safeguards against overlooking stuff like that... so the users are the safeguard.
Jason Neuswanger, Ph.D.
Troutnut and salmonid ecologist

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