Jump to content
Fly Tying
Sign in to follow this  
Taxon

Stonefly Entomology

Recommended Posts

If you click on the picture on the top right corner of this page, it takes you to thread started by Pujic in which he and others have moved on to tying stonefly imitations. Alternatively, the thread can be accessed through the Tying Realistic Flies forum.

 

Here are Pujic's great stonefly photos:

user posted image

user posted image

A major clue (or key) for identifying the family of stonefly nymphs (immatures) is the shape and alignment of their wing cases. The stonefly families are as follows:

 

- Capniidae (Slender Winter) Snowflies

- Leuctridae (Rollwinged) Needleflies

- Nemouridae (Spring) Forestflies

- Taenioperygidae (Winter) Willowflies

- Chloroperlidae (Green) Sallflies

- Peltoperlidae (Roachlike) Roachflies

- Perlidae (Common) Stones

- Perlodidae (Perlodids) Stripetails & Springflies

- Pteronarcyide (Giant) Salmonflies

 

So, what family do you think the stoneflies from Pujic's photos are from, and/or what other information can you offer about them. Once again, I encourage you to look on the internet for information about them, as a wealth of it exists. Hint: you can use Google, specify Images, and search by family name, genus, or whatever.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm glad you started this stonefly post. I was wondering if it's cool to ask a quetion about the little black stoneflies that are emerging now on this post or should I start a new post? As for the above pictures I'm going to guess they are in the Perlidae family for 2 reasons the flatness of the bodie and they look like the stones in my local streams and I'v always been told the were Perildae. I guess it's time to find out who I can trust.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

QUOTE (pennscreekrules @ Feb 10 2005, 10:11 PM)
I'm glad you started this stonefly post. I was wondering if it's cool to ask a quetion about the little black stoneflies that are emerging now on this post or should I start a new post? As for the above pictures I'm going to guess they are in the Perlidae family for 2 reasons the flatness of the bodie and they look like the stones in my local streams and I'v always been told the were Perildae. I guess it's time to find out who I can trust.

Can't take any credit; just tailgating on Nick Pujic's fine work. As far as the little black stoneflies are concerned, look at the link that skunked provided above, as it has a picture of an adult, provides the taxonomic information on them, and talks about them.

 

With regard to your belief that Pujic's photos are of Perlids, I came to the same conclusion, but don't know for sure, and have no idea what genus they might be. However, they have the stoutest legs I've ever seen on a stonefly. Come on you lurkers, I could use a little help here!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Well my question on the black stones is one I can't find an answer to anywhere. Pretty much every year I see ones that don't have fully developed wings. The wings are about 1/4 the size the should be. There TINY. I was just wondering what caused this. I usually find them in the snow or in a back eddy. There's no way possible way they could fly, but they definately look like adults.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

QUOTE (pennscreekrules @ Feb 11 2005, 07:31 AM)
Well my question on the black stones is one I can't find an answer to anywhere. Pretty much every year I see ones that don't have fully developed wings. The wings are about 1/4 the size the should be. There TINY. I was just wondering what caused this. I usually find them in the snow or in a back eddy. There's no way possible way they could fly, but they definately look like adults.

pennscreekrules-

 

The family is Capniidae (Slender Winter Stoneflies), and they come with wing lengths varying from fully-winged to short-winged to micro-winged (as in, you wouldn't be able to see the wings without a microscope). Males are more likely than females to have shortened wings, but that isn't a reliable indicator of the sex. With regard to the why of it, I can only offer, that is how they have evolved to be.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

penncreekrules, I was just doing a bit of research on the little black stonefly in prep for our first hatch of the season. I ran across an answer to your question on underdeveloped wings at: http://www.cnyflyfish.com/articles/an_early_hatch.html which attributes this to cold weather.

 

What pattern do you fish for the lbs?

 

Cheers,

Michael

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

QUOTE (mhackney @ Mar 7 2005, 09:48 AM)
What pattern do you fish for the lbs?

mhackney,

Thanks for the link. I don't really throw many dries so I don't have any good dries to share, but I like to use a copper john 16-18 tied in black for the nymph and have had moderate success. I think I have a picture in my album of a brown I caught on Kish Creek 2 weeks ago on that very nymph.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I was on the creek this weekend and got some shots of an early black stone. Just thought I would add them to the thread.

 

Charlie.

post-31-1110209169.jpg

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Just saw these photos and couldn't resist a couple of comments.

 

The first two photos are of nymphs of Agnetina (Plecoptera: Perlidae). If you look closely at the back of the head, you'll see a closely-set row of coarse setae along a ridge. The bottom photo is Allocapnia (Plecoptera: Capniidae), which I always see crawling in February and March in Michigan. All of these are common here in Michigan.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
Sign in to follow this  

×
×
  • Create New...