Giant stonefly


Clinch Trails Blog Travel Topics Blog Archives Recent Comments Sugar Hill: A Microcosm of Central Appalachian Ecology Contact Information Search Sister sites: Chicken waterer Microbusiness ebook Homemade deer deterrent Powered by Branchable.
	Giant stonefly Although you don't really need to learn macroinvertebrates down to the family level to use the SOS method of stream monitoring, after monitoring the same stream for a while, you'll notice individuals within the broad identification groupings. Usually, the Clinch River is chock full of Common Stoneflies (Family Perlidae), which have a beautifully mottled thorax like the one shown to the right. But this week we stumbled across a new family --- Pteronarcyidae, or the Giant Stoneflies (pictured above.) I was thrilled to read that the presence of Giant Stoneflies in the Clinch is a sign of good water quality since they are even more sensitive to environmental stresses than are other stonefly larvae. Unlike the mighty hunters in the Common Stonefly family (which eat just about any smaller insect they can get their hands on), Giant Stoneflies shred and scrape debris for their dinner. And, as you can see, they are so slow-moving that they grow algae on their backs. Giant Stoneflies turn into salmonflies, thus named because of their importance in feeding fish. Fly fishermen often try to mimic salmonflies when they create stunning lures like the one shown here. I guess stream monitors aren't the only ones interested in identifying aquatic macroinvertebrates down to the family level. Escape the rat race with Microbusiness Independence. Want to be notified when new comments are posted on this page? Click on the RSS button after you add a comment to subscribe to the comment feed. Add a comment