i have been fishing in wyoming the last couple of weeks and the stoneflies that have been coming off are the smallest stones i have ever seen, about a 1/2", and the body is red and the thorax is a golden color. i have been trying to find what kind of stones they are on the internet but cannot find them. anybody ever seen these or know what kind they are?
Mike- They were most likely Isoperla quinquepunctata. They have an adult length range of 0.45" - 0.6", a gold thorax, red abdomen, and emerge from April through August. The males often have shortened wings that only cover about 3/5 of the abdomen. They are of family is Perlodidae (Patterned Stoneflies), subfamily Isoperlinae (Stripetails), and have a common name of Fivespot Stripetail. They are likely called Little Red Stoneflies by fly fishers in Wyoming, but I don't know that for a fact. Hope this helps.
Roger, you rock! I love learning the entomology and always look forward to your posts. Thanks for contributing! :thumb:
on the internet i found striptails but didn't takea look because i thought it some sort of other insect. i nioticed that some had some really short wings so it sounds like you nailed it, thanks.
