Salmonflies
Pteronarcys californica
The giant Salmonflies of the Western mountains are legendary for their proclivity to elicit consistent dry-fly action and ferocious strikes.
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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.
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.
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Entoman on May 1, 2014May 1st, 2014, 5:21 pm EDT
Nice bamboo, Eric! What's the make?
"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
Gutcutter on May 1, 2014May 1st, 2014, 5:49 pm EDT
This bug, captured and photographed by the long lost Lastchance, during the same hatch that Eric landed that beauty.
The males were more of a "traditional" Hendrickson/RedQuill color.
Two brain damaged ex-hockey players enjoying the Hendricksons.
Spring at last...
The males were more of a "traditional" Hendrickson/RedQuill color.
Two brain damaged ex-hockey players enjoying the Hendricksons.
Spring at last...
All men who fish may in turn be divided into two parts: those who fish for trout and those who don't. Trout fishermen are a race apart: they are a dedicated crew- indolent, improvident, and quietly mad.
-Robert Traver, Trout Madness
-Robert Traver, Trout Madness
PaulRoberts on May 1, 2014May 1st, 2014, 6:10 pm EDT
This bug, captured and photographed by the long lost Lastchance, during the same hatch that Eric landed that beauty.
The males were more of a "traditional" Hendrickson/RedQuill color.
I've seen the exact same thing, and have some stuck shucks in a dry box back home in that dark hue. I thought for a time, (like Art Flick had), that the males were the dark ones. And maybe more of them are. But, over time I've seen both dark and light versions emerging on the same stream at the same time. Sure they darken after emergence, but I think there may be more to it.
If invaria are of any comparison, I would not be surprised if subvaria showed great individual variablity too. Wish I had my journals with me bc it's been awhile but I made special note of the color variability I was seeing. I wondered at the time if the variability was an adaptation to fickle spring weather, giving dark individuals an advantage over light ones during cold snaps. I've had enough times when I've had Hennies popping and nary a fish up to meet them. I also wondered if males were more apt to be dark and that there was some skew toward darkness in males.
But I trust my observations only so far: I have no stats, and I have no good handle on how comparatively recently emerged they all were.
Oldredbarn on May 1, 2014May 1st, 2014, 6:22 pm EDT
Those two look like they are having way too much fun! I think they told the wives they were at the office...It's written all over their faces.
Hey! Where is Bruce?! I thought he was in Rome for the canonization and confession...
Spence
Hey! Where is Bruce?! I thought he was in Rome for the canonization and confession...
Spence
"Even when my best efforts fail it's a satisfying challenge, and that, after all, is the essence of fly fishing." -Chauncy Lively
"Envy not the man who lives beside the river, but the man the river flows through." Joseph T Heywood
"Envy not the man who lives beside the river, but the man the river flows through." Joseph T Heywood
Crepuscular on May 2, 2014May 2nd, 2014, 6:57 pm EDT
Hey! Where is Bruce?!
Spence
He was on an odyssey, but was then drawn off course by a siren.
Oldredbarn on May 5, 2014May 5th, 2014, 12:00 pm EDT
He was on an odyssey, but was then drawn off course by a siren.
It happens to the best of us...
Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not yield.
Tennyson's "Ulysses"
"Even when my best efforts fail it's a satisfying challenge, and that, after all, is the essence of fly fishing." -Chauncy Lively
"Envy not the man who lives beside the river, but the man the river flows through." Joseph T Heywood
"Envy not the man who lives beside the river, but the man the river flows through." Joseph T Heywood
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Oct 19, 2006
by Troutnut
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