This is an exciting find I made a few weeks ago while exploring one of my favorite streams in Sugar Hollow. The stream is on the land of a good friend who often goes with me to look for stream insects.
This is Rhyacophila torva, which brings the number of Rhyacophilidae species that we've found so far to seven. It's the distinctive head pattern that convinced me that this was a new one for me, and it's the head pattern that's one of the keys to the species ID.
On R. torva, Beaty says the following: "R. torva -- larva ?? mm; teeth on anal claw present; distinct dark "V" along frontoclypeal sutures with some darker muscle scars behind. Occurs mostly in small Mountain streams. Relatively common. Recorded from GSMNP. (Steven Beaty, "The Trichoptera of North Carolina," p. 61.)
With that, all I had to do was get a microscope shot of the anal claws, and the teeth on the claws was obvious. (In another source -- unpublished -- there's an illustration of an R. torva claw. It too shows a claw with 3 teeth that are progressively smaller as you move the tip to the rear.)
I should add that, yes indeed, it was found in a small mountain stream!
Love finding new things!
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As you can see from the photo above, it was a gorgeous day, one of the few really nice days we've had so far this winter. Consequently, we found a few other things that made for good photos.
1. Small minnow mayfly, Baetis tricaudatus.
2. A second Rhyacophilidae species -- R. carolina.
and 3. A Roach-like stonefly, Tallaperla sp.
I'll be posting again tomorrow -- photos from a trip to the Rapidan river I took yesterday. Got some good ones.
One other thing. For the last year I've been actively posting on Instagram. You can find me at: buddhabob2hanlubo.
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