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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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Crepuscular has attached these 10 pictures. The message is below.
Measurment on the females posted yesterday
Male Anthopotamus distinctus collected last night
Crepuscular
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Boiling Springs, PA

Posts: 920
Crepuscular on Jun 14, 2012June 14th, 2012, 11:47 am EDT
Not the greatest photos but this is one of my most favorite mayflies. Quite a few on the Yellow Breeches right now.
Entoman
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Northern CA & ID

Posts: 2604
Entoman on Jun 14, 2012June 14th, 2012, 12:41 pm EDT
The photos look pretty good to me, Eric! I agree with you that they are beautiful creatures.

The brown stripe on the vertex and pronotum coupled with the large rose colored spots looking like lateral stripes on the abdomen point to Anthopotamus distinctus (Golden Drake). These characters are quite "distinctive". :) The only other species with the brown stripe and dark cross veins lacks the large lateral spots and is a much smaller critter. I'm assuming these are well over 10mm. BTW - these are female imagos. Catch any males?
"It's not that I find fishing so important, it's just that I find all other endeavors of Man equally unimportant... And not nearly as much fun!" Robert Traver, Anatomy of a Fisherman
Crepuscular
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Boiling Springs, PA

Posts: 920
Crepuscular on Jun 14, 2012June 14th, 2012, 1:39 pm EDT
Yes over 10mm. No males yet i'll be looking tonight. How about this one, Is this one Anthopotamus verticis? It came from the Susquehanna River last week. This really is a bad photo I took it with my phone...
Entoman
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Northern CA & ID

Posts: 2604
Entoman on Jun 14, 2012June 14th, 2012, 1:57 pm EDT
Yes. Pale cross-veins and large lateral abdominal spots are found together on no other species in this genus. The only species it could be confused with is myops, which is much larger and has either a plain abdomen or barely discernible lateral markings. The larger eyes are also indicative of verticus. How big was he?
"It's not that I find fishing so important, it's just that I find all other endeavors of Man equally unimportant... And not nearly as much fun!" Robert Traver, Anatomy of a Fisherman
Crepuscular
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Boiling Springs, PA

Posts: 920
Crepuscular on Jun 14, 2012June 14th, 2012, 2:05 pm EDT
over 10mm probaly at least 12mm I have them in my office, i think, I can measure tomorrow if I can find them. My office looks like bomb went off in it right now...I thought myops and neglectus had the stripe too? Are they misidentified here: http://bugguide.net/node/view/126562/bgimage ? Is there a good key to species for them? I was going to ask you how you were differentiating distinctus from the other two. From the examples I've seen which are very few thhis one has a much more yellow tinge to the forewing than the other two, but that could be due to lighting etc.
Lastchance
Portage, PA

Posts: 437
Lastchance on Jun 14, 2012June 14th, 2012, 2:33 pm EDT
Hi All. Could I ask a favor? Would you also include the common name of these bugs when you post them? I ain't that smart.
Thanks,
Bruce
Entoman
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Northern CA & ID

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Entoman on Jun 14, 2012June 14th, 2012, 2:52 pm EDT
Hi Bruce,

I did. You must have missed it filtering through all the descriptions and Latin!:) It's a great point you raise though, and I try to remember to put the common names in parenthesis next to the Latin. The problem is I usually only do it once at the names first mention because it gets too cumbersome to keep doing it through the rest of the thread.

BTW - all the species mentioned here are called Golden Drakes as well as a few other names.
"It's not that I find fishing so important, it's just that I find all other endeavors of Man equally unimportant... And not nearly as much fun!" Robert Traver, Anatomy of a Fisherman
Entoman
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Northern CA & ID

Posts: 2604
Entoman on Jun 14, 2012June 14th, 2012, 4:12 pm EDT
Eric -

I thought myops and neglectus had the stripe too?

Assuming you're talking about the head stripe, with neglectus yes, but this character is variable on myops.

Are they misidentified here: http://bugguide.net/node/view/126562/bgimage ?

No, both Taxon and Gonzo worked on the specimens in your link and I agree with their assessments. There was one left at the genus level that is neglectus, IMHO.

Is there a good key to species for them?

I'm primarily working with an old copy of The Mayflies of Illinois (Burks). Though it's old, the key and descriptions provided for these species are still valid as far as I know.

I was going to ask you how you were differentiating distinctus from the other two.

We mentioned three other species. Since I'm not sure which two you mean, I'll compare them all.:) A. neglectus is a much smaller critter and its spots aren't so large as to appear as stripes. Also, I don't believe it lives in PA. A. myops lacks the large lateral markings and has pale cross veins. When you capture some males, you should also find that their eyes are medium sized as opposed to the small ones those two species have. As for verticus, it is also a smaller species and lacks the head stripe. The males have very large eyes for the genus and unlike the females, the males have clear cross veins (or at most a few dark ones at the margins). Of the four, it is the only species that has differentiated cross vein color between the sexes.

From the examples I've seen which are very few this one has a much more yellow tinge to the forewing than the other two, but that could be due to lighting etc.

Possibly, but this character is where the genus gets its common name. I believe it's too variable to be dependable for ID purposes.

Hope this helps. Very interesting animals, Eric. Thanks for posting them.

"It's not that I find fishing so important, it's just that I find all other endeavors of Man equally unimportant... And not nearly as much fun!" Robert Traver, Anatomy of a Fisherman
GONZO
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"Bear Swamp," PA

Posts: 1681
GONZO on Jun 14, 2012June 14th, 2012, 4:42 pm EDT
A. neglectus is a much smaller critter and its spots aren't so large as to appear as stripes. Also, I don't believe it lives in PA.

A. neglectus is a smaller critter, but it is found in PA. (Two subspecies comprise the current concept of A. neglectus, and PA seems as though it might be very near the heart of the range of A. neglectus neglectus).
Entoman
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Northern CA & ID

Posts: 2604
Entoman on Jun 14, 2012June 14th, 2012, 7:50 pm EDT
Gonzo -

Hmm... That's good to know, thanks. I knew from reviewing Mayfly Central that n. disjunctus was more southerly while n. neglectus was the northeastern sibling, but for some reason Taxon's distribution charts show it missing from PA. I believe his chart is largely based on Distribution of Mayfly Species of North America (R. P. Randolph) for the eastern mayflies. Can you cite your source so that it can be edited?
"It's not that I find fishing so important, it's just that I find all other endeavors of Man equally unimportant... And not nearly as much fun!" Robert Traver, Anatomy of a Fisherman
Martinlf
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Palmyra PA

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Martinlf on Jun 15, 2012June 15th, 2012, 4:24 am EDT
This is a new hatch for me. Any tips on fishing it?
"He spread them a yard and a half. 'And every one that got away is this big.'"

--Fred Chappell
GONZO
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"Bear Swamp," PA

Posts: 1681
GONZO on Jun 15, 2012June 15th, 2012, 4:35 am EDT
Can you cite your source...?


Kurt, here are some sources in the scientific literature (the first one should already be familiar to you):

The Mayflies, or Ephemeroptera, of Illinois by Burks (1953)--"Known from Maryland, New York, and Pennsylvania" (pg. 32).

Phylogenetic Systematics of Potamanthidae (Ephemeroptera) by Bae and McCafferty (1991)--see distribution map on pg. 31.

Biodiversity of Mayflies (Ephemeroptera) of Pennsylvania by Hoover (2000)--this is a specimen-based report that is cited as a source for the Pennsylvania Aquatic Community Classification Project.

Crepuscular
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Boiling Springs, PA

Posts: 920
Crepuscular on Jun 15, 2012June 15th, 2012, 5:56 am EDT
I have added some photos of a male and a photo with a measured female.
Feathers5
Posts: 287
Feathers5 on Jun 15, 2012June 15th, 2012, 7:15 am EDT
Hi Bruce,

I did. You must have missed it filtering through all the descriptions and Latin!:) It's a great point you raise though, and I try to remember to put the common names in parenthesis next to the Latin. The problem is I usually only do it once at the names first mention because it gets too cumbersome to keep doing it through the rest of the thread.

BTW - all the species mentioned here are called Golden Drakes as well as a few other names.


Oops! My mistake. Sorry!
Entoman
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Northern CA & ID

Posts: 2604
Entoman on Jun 15, 2012June 15th, 2012, 9:23 am EDT
Gonzo -

Thanks for the citations. Especially pointing out the last sentence on the neglectus entry in Burks.:) Don't know how I missed that...

Eric - More great photos! I believe they confirm distinctus.
"It's not that I find fishing so important, it's just that I find all other endeavors of Man equally unimportant... And not nearly as much fun!" Robert Traver, Anatomy of a Fisherman

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