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3. Ex-Pseudocloeons

Jere -

In the Grannom thread you posed some baetid questions. I thought it best to address them in a separate thread.

Punctiventris remains a valid species name but it has been moved to the genus Plauditus from Pseudocloeon. As Louis correctly stated, nothing trumps local knowledge but I believe your bright green tiny baetids are most likely another ex-Pseudocloeon, Iswaeon anoka. There is a lot of confusion about the distribution of the similar looking P. punctiventris which is mostly a Southwestern species. The other species that can be confused with them is Acentrella turbida but it is chunkier and more somber in coloration. In any event all three are commonly called Tiny Western Olives. Check out this link in the hatch pages: http://www.troutnut.com/hatch/198/Mayfly-Pseudocloeon-Tiny-Blue-Winged-Olives
I updated this page with a new chart last year to assist us in sorting out what happened to all the species in this previously important genus.

The only question I had regarding Craig Mathews description of this Fall Baetis being bright green bodied for the females was everyone that I captured during the emergence was bright green. Odds seemed against that happening. and Mathews', and Juracak's book, Yellowstone Hatches, was written some year's back. And the unusual aspect of all of that was on my first Fall Baetis fishing trip fish would not accept my darker olive pattern, but readily accepted them once I tied them in the bright green.

Sorry about that. I thought you asked if P. punctiventris had been synonymized with B. tricaudatus. Suffice to say (without getting any further into the weeds than we already have) this doesn't mean that Matthews book is wrong as about the time he wrote it puntiventris and anoka were briefly speculated to be synonymous and the genus situation was in a serious state of flux. A lot of angler hatch charts still report the older names. I'm having a deja vu moment here as I seem to remember a similar conversation on this topic with Gonzo & you a few years ago.:)

As to your point about the fish being color selective to bright green in this instance (as well as the Grannoms), I agree as I have experienced the same thing.