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> > Calamoceratidae; Heteroplectron



CrepuscularFebruary 6th, 2013, 3:57 pm
Boiling Springs, PA

Posts: 923
I guess this is Heteroplectron americanum I will try and add more photos tomorrow.



OldredbarnFebruary 6th, 2013, 4:03 pm
Novi, MI

Posts: 2608
Really interesting case there!

Spence
"Even when my best efforts fail it's a satisfying challenge, and that, after all, is the essence of fly fishing." -Chauncy Lively

"Envy not the man who lives beside the river, but the man the river flows through." Joseph T Heywood
CrepuscularFebruary 6th, 2013, 4:22 pm
Boiling Springs, PA

Posts: 923
Hollowed out piece of wood. Pretty neat. I hope Dave will correct me if I'm wrong but I believe this is the only genus to utilize a case like this.
OldredbarnFebruary 6th, 2013, 4:31 pm
Novi, MI

Posts: 2608
I realize that dying is a bad strategy for a species, but you would think that construction and carrying these cases around would deplete energy.

Show these cases to the general public and they wouldn't believe it.

Spence
"Even when my best efforts fail it's a satisfying challenge, and that, after all, is the essence of fly fishing." -Chauncy Lively

"Envy not the man who lives beside the river, but the man the river flows through." Joseph T Heywood
CrenoFebruary 6th, 2013, 7:30 pm
Grants Pass, OR

Posts: 305
And someone laid eggs on it too :-) I will wait for photos........
EntomanFebruary 6th, 2013, 7:47 pm
Northern CA & ID

Posts: 2604
I think you are right, Eric. Cool Bug! The only other species I'm aware of is the one we have out here on the West Coast, H. californicum. Distribution is reported as West of the Cascades, but I have collected them in the panhandle region of Idaho. They like big hunks of bark like this but they will also hollow out twigs that can look at first glance like a more typical cylindrical caddis case. They fooled me into thinking they were a different species for awhile. I think there is another genus in the family that likes hunks of bark too, but I don't think single pieces and they don't have the single gills that show here, either.

...but you would think that construction and carrying these cases around would deplete energy.

You'd think so Spence, but they actually get around pretty good. They are much faster than Dicosmoecus (October Caddis) for example. Their cases are actually very light, approaching neutral density. Sometimes the water movement from your hand trying to grab them too fast will move them away from you like a leaf. This perhaps explains why I've only seen them in the very soft edges. How they survive raging flood water is a mystery to me! I'm not aware of a common name for them and don't believe they are significant to anglers. I've never seen an adult that I'm aware of and have no idea what they would look like. I think they are rare, but Dave can better address that as well.
"It's not that I find fishing so important, it's just that I find all other endeavors of Man equally unimportant... And not nearly as much fun!" Robert Traver, Anatomy of a Fisherman
CrepuscularFebruary 6th, 2013, 8:03 pm
Boiling Springs, PA

Posts: 923
Sometimes the water movement from your hand trying to grab them too fast will move them away from you like a leaf.

Yeah actually the only reason I noticed this one today was because there was a random piece of wood stuck to another stick that was waving in the current. I was actually looking for a couple other caddis in the same place when I came across this one.
Can anyone ID the eggs?
EntomanFebruary 6th, 2013, 8:11 pm
Northern CA & ID

Posts: 2604
Hmmm... I'm not much of an egg man, but they almost look amphibian.
"It's not that I find fishing so important, it's just that I find all other endeavors of Man equally unimportant... And not nearly as much fun!" Robert Traver, Anatomy of a Fisherman

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