Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Did I mention the bear?! Just a few more things from Montana


Is that a cutie or what?  Fortunately, we were anchored in the middle of the river (Big Blackfoot), and the bear wasn't bothered at all.  Just kept eating those chokecherries.  So, I just kept snapping away.



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I found two other caddisfly larvae that I thought I would mention, both are larvae that I've found before.

1. The common netspinner, Arctopsyche grandis.



For the genus ID, we look at the ventral apotome (underside of the head), which narrows from top to bottom.


And the key to the species ID is the yellow stripe that runs from the front of the head to the nota.


For a full discussion of the ID, see the entry posted on 8/27/12.

2. The free-living caddisfly larva, Rhyacophila brunnea-vemna group.




This ID is discussed in the entry posted on 9/1/13.  As I did last time, I found this little larva in the small mountain stream near the motel where we stay -- Grant Creek.  And what is striking here are the gills on the abdominal segments, something we don't see on the larva we find in Virginia.  On segments 2-7, we find two pairs of multi-branched gills.

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Back to our streams this weekend. The weather is finally cooling down.

Monday, August 22, 2016

Back from Montana -- and we've got some new taxa


But I'll start with one that I first saw last year.  This is the spiny crawler, Ephemerella aurivilli.   You may recall that I found these nymphs in Rock Creek last year (posting of 8/10/15), but because the nymphs are dark brown to black, and because the weather was bad that day, I was unable to get any good photos .  But this year, I hit it just right.


Two features distinguish this nymph.  First, the "top hind edge of (at least) segments 3-7 [have] small to medium tubercles."  (You can see them as well in last year's entry.)  (For the key features on E. aurivilli, go to http://www.flyfishingentomology.com/PNW%20Mayflies.htm.)


And second, the "hind corners of abdominal segment 3 [has] points similar to [the] following segments."


I suspect the adult of this species is identified as a Pale Morning Dun since that is a major hatch on Rock Creek -- and other streams -- at this time of year, but I can't find a source that confirms that. Ephemerella dorothea infrequens is confirmed as a PMD, so too is Ephemerella excrucians (see http://www.troutnut.com/hatch/459/Mayfly-Ephemerella-excrucians-Pale-Morning-Dun).  So I can't confirm this ID.  Still....

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Now on to new things.  Two new caddis case-makers.

Number one, The Brachycentrid (humpless case-maker), Brachycentrus americanus.




(I may have messed up last year when I called the humpless case-maker I found on that trip, Brachycentrus occidentalis.)

Like the Brachycentrus larvae that I commonly see at the Rapidan River -- Brachycentrus appalachia -- this larva makes a 4-sided case out of strips of vegetation, which we can see in both of these pictures.   But for the ID of the species we find in the pacific northwest, we have to look at the descriptions provided at the website "Flyfishing Entomology" (http://www.flyfishingentomology.com/PNW%20Caddisflies.htm).  B. americanus is described in the following way:  "Small ridge above the eyes; 1st abdominal segment w/2 (not 4) long, dark hairs in the middle; cases typically 4-sided and made of plant pieces, but may incorporate sand and other kinds of debris."  Both of the anatomical features noted can be seen in my microscope photos.

ridge above the eyes


and the 2 setae in the middle of abdominal segment 1 (venter)


I'd say we're good with that ID.

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For the other case-maker I found, I did not get very good photos -- the larva refused to stick its head out of the case.  But it did take a peek!


And I did get another photo that helped with the ID.


The case has a "hood" that covers the head of the larva when its face down.  To me that indicates the family Apataniidae, genus Apatania.  Remember that this is a taxa that we also find in the southeast (Apatania incerta) so we have Steven Beaty's description.  "Mesonotum with two plates; metanotal sa1 sclerites absent; arrangement of sa1 associated setae in a linear transverse row."  ("Trichoptera," p. 85)  We find those features for sure.


How about the species ID?  We apparently have two choices, A. sorex or A. tavala (http://www.flyfishingentomology.com/PNW%20Caddisflies.htm).  But neither species is fully described.  Rather, we find this: for A. sorex -- "Emergence: Jan thru Jun," and for A. tavala -- "Lives in high, cold streams of the Cascade Mountains, and is considered a species of concern."  Not enough to go on, so we'll have to leave this one at the level of genus.

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These are the streams where I was finding my insects.

Rock Creek


the Upper Clark Fork


and Norman Maclean's Big Blackfoot River


Oh, and yes I was fishing for big, beautiful trout!


A 17" Cutthroat -- which was released back into the river.

Saturday, August 6, 2016

One more week -- then it's off to Montana


I haven't posted so far this summer for two reason.  First, we've had numerous storms -- some of them downpours -- and the Rivanna River, my stream of choice in the summers, has been high and muddy.  But second, I had to have surgery at the start of July and the recovery has been slow -- but steady.  But one week from today I'm off to Montana for the annual fly fishing trip with the guys, and I'm looking forward to seeing the many mayfly, stonefly, and caddisfly species that we don't have here in the east.  For example,

the beautiful free-living caddisfly larva, Rhyacophila brunnea-vemna.


And there's the Perlodid stonefly, genus Yogutus.


The common stonefly -- and they're still immature at this time of year -- Calineuria californica.


And I have no doubt that I'll see many spiny crawlers, Drunella coloradensis.


So I'll be back in business in two weeks with a lot of new photos, and with luck, a new species or two for us to ID.
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Photo at the top of the page -- the rugged Blackfoot River -- northeast of Missoula.  The same in the photo below, this in the challenging "box canyon."


And we always spend 1-2 days on the Clark Fork River as well.