Lepidostomatids and Uenoids: the new kids in town at the Upper Doyles River

The last time I went up to the upper Doyles River (6.4 miles north of White Hall, VA) I didn't find a whole lot: some flatheaded mayflies, lots of pronggilled mayflies, brushlegged mayflies, a few large winter stoneflies, and a few Chloroperlids (green stoneflies).  And that's about it -- er yi-yi 而已矣 as the Chinese would say.  But now that we're well into winter the caddisfly larvae have shown up in large numbers, both Lepidostomatids and the Uenoids.

In the picture above, a Lepidostomatid (genus Lepidostoma) in a "multi-media" case: part grains of sand and part a four-sided case made out of nicely trimmed sections of leaves.  We find these "mixed" cases, but the case that's made solely of the sections of leaves is surely more common.

There were a lot of them in the river today: look for their very small cases in packs of leaves.
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Uenoids?  This is one of my sites that is densely populated by these "little northern case-makers."
It's also one of the spots where just about every Uenoid I see is N. consimilis.  Exactly what I found today.  And as I noted in my previous entry, many make a blocky, rectangular case, but not all of them.  Note the variety I found today, beginning with two of the large, blocky cases.

#1

#2

Both of these cases measured 10 mm x 4 mm.  But this next case was much smaller, tapered and curved -- but still N. consimilis.

#3

#4  And one more in a small, non-descript case.

While just about every Uenoid I've checked from this site has been N. consimilis there was one exception on 4/18 of last year, one I'm hoping that I'll see again.

It had a "mask-like" face, no clavate ventral gills, and a peg-like tubercle on its head.   It might have been N. toshioi which would be a real find.  I'll be checking those faces real closely!

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Other photos -- just a few.

1. Large winter stonefly, Taeniopteryx burksi/maura.

2. And for those fly fishermen who are reading -- get out those midge imitations.  Don't forget to tie some that are green (FYI, very few midges are red).

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