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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.

Looking across Island Lake toward the Titcomb Basin—one of the popular crown jewels of the Wind River Mountains From Island Lake in Wyoming

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Skwala (Large Springfly) Stonefly NymphSkwala (Large Springfly) Stonefly Nymph
Dorsal view of a Skwala (Perlodidae) (Large Springfly) Stonefly Nymph from the Yakima River in Washington
This Skwala nymph still has a couple months left to go before hatching, but it's still a good representative of its species, which was extremely abundant in my sample for a stonefly of this size. It's obvious why the Yakima is known for its Skwala hatch.
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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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  3. Glossosoma intermedium or nigrior

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  3. Glossosoma intermedium or nigrior

This topic is about the Caddisfly Genus Glossosoma

The sporadic emergence of these caddisflies diminishes the importance of the freshly emerged adults and pupae, but they have unique periods of vulnerability as larvae during the day and again as diving egg layers at dusk that can make them very important. A taxon can only have one common name attached in the title but this is one of those genera whose species come in a variety of colors and descriptive common names. In the West their bodies generally come in tan to brown shades with matching wings, their wings can be speckled grayish tan or even almost black as with an eastern species. Some western rivers have astounding populations. See Glossosomatidae for more information.

Example specimens

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Male Glossosoma (Little Brown Short-horned Sedge) Caddisfly Adult
Lateral view of a Male Glossosoma (Glossosomatidae) (Little Brown Short-horned Sedge) Caddisfly Adult from the Cedar River in Washington
Key characteristics verified under the microscope: -The head has 3 ocelli. -Maxillary palp has 5 segments, with the second segment rounded. In some of the pictures it looks like 6 with the 3rd segment rounded, but the basal "segment" in that case isn't part of the palp. -Foretibiae lack preapical spurs. -Pronotum with mesal setose warts widely spaced. All of this very clearly indicates Glossosomatidae. Beyond there: -The tibial spur counts (fore / middle / hind tibiae) are 2, 4, and 4. -From the pictures, the hind wing discoidal cell is closed, not open. Subfamily Glossosomatinae. -The upper and lower parts of the mesepisternum are separated by a constriction, not a transverse suture. Microscope picture included. This leads to a very confident genus ID of Glossosoma. I don't have the information to take it to species.
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Glossosoma (Little Brown Short-horned Sedge) Caddisfly Larva
Dorsal view of a Glossosoma (Glossosomatidae) (Little Brown Short-horned Sedge) Caddisfly Larva from the Yakima River in Washington
I caught this tiny larva without a case, but it seems to key pretty clearly to to Glossosomatidae. From there, the lack of sclerites on the mesonotum points to either Glossosoma or Anagapetus. Although it's difficult to see in a 2D image from the microscope, it's pretty clear in the live 3D view that the pronotum is only excised about 1/3 of its length to accommodate the forecoxa, not 2/3, which points to Glossosoma at Couplet 5 of the Key to Genera of Glossosomatidae Larvae.
1
Glossosoma (Little Brown Short-horned Sedge) Caddisfly Adult
Glossosoma (Glossosomatidae) (Little Brown Short-horned Sedge) Caddisfly Adult from the Big Thompson River in Montana
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Wiflyfisher
Wiflyfisher's profile picture
Wisconsin

Posts: 622
Wiflyfisher on Jun 30, 2020June 30th, 2020, 11:45 am EDT
Caught and photographed in the Upper Midwest on May 12, 2020. I resized my original photo for the website.





John S.
https://WiFlyFisher.com
Troutnut
Troutnut's profile picture
Administrator
Bellevue, WA

Posts: 2758
Troutnut on Jul 1, 2020July 1st, 2020, 4:53 am EDT
Nice photo John!
Jason Neuswanger, Ph.D.
Troutnut and salmonid ecologist
Wiflyfisher
Wiflyfisher's profile picture
Wisconsin

Posts: 622
Wiflyfisher on Jul 1, 2020July 1st, 2020, 7:20 am EDT
Jason, thanks.

I sent my two best original macro photos to an entomologist friend who believes they are Glossosoma intermedium or nigrior, which are common here.

I bet you can guess the river too, :-)

I hope all is well with you and your family. BTW, I still email back and forth with Frank P. and the new fishery manager quite often.

Stay safe!

John S.
https://WiFlyFisher.com
Creno
Grants Pass, OR

Posts: 302
Creno on Jul 18, 2020July 18th, 2020, 10:43 am EDT
Did you keep this specimen? The palps and antennae look too robust to be Glossosoma. How about one of the brachycentrids?
Wiflyfisher
Wiflyfisher's profile picture
Wisconsin

Posts: 622
Wiflyfisher on Jul 20, 2020July 20th, 2020, 12:49 pm EDT
Did you keep this specimen? The palps and antennae look too robust to be Glossosoma. How about one of the brachycentrids?

Yes, I have the specimen or another one in a specimen bottle with 90% iso alcohol.

I emailed my original photo to a professor in Michigan. He has made a study of all the caddisflies in the Upper Midwest. He "guessed" by looking at my full size photo that it was Glossosoma, which are common in northern Wisconsin. I could send him my specimen but I never got around to it.

John S.
https://WiFlyFisher.com
Creno
Grants Pass, OR

Posts: 302
Creno on Jul 31, 2020July 31st, 2020, 5:23 am EDT
I talked to Dave - send it to him, he is happy to look at it for you, and me :-)

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