**Caddisfly Species Dolophilodes distinctus (Tiny Black Gold Speckled-Winged Caddis)**

Mayflies

Caddisflies

Stoneflies

Taxonomic Navigation -?-

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

» Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

» Class Insecta (Insects)

» Order Trichoptera (Caddisflies)

» Family Philopotamidae

» Genus Dolophilodes (Medium Evening Sedges)

» Species distinctus (Tiny Black Gold Speckled-Winged Caddis)

Common Names

Match	Common Name
	Tiny Black Gold Speckled-Winged Caddis
	Medium Evening Sedge

Pictures Below ↓

What a weird species is Dolophilodes distinctus. It emerges year-round, and the female adults in the winter do not have wings. In the summer they do, and in the spring there is a mix.

This is the most important species of Dolophilodes in the East and Midwest. It is never an intense emergence, but it may be present at times of the year when nothing else is available.

Where & When

Regions: East, Midwest

Time Of Year (?): All year; typically two peaks in winter and again in midsummer

Hatching Behavior

Time Of Day (?): Morning and afternoon

The pupae swim to the surface and then scoot across it to the shore to emerge. Swisher and Richards comment on the importance of this behavior in Selective Trout:

When fishing to an emergence, the adult and emerger imitations are usueless. The angler must use a hackled pupa skated over the water toward shore.

Larva & Pupa Biology

Environmental Tolerance: Prefers cold water

Pictures of 3 Caddisfly Specimens in the Species Dolophilodes distinctus:

Male Dolophilodes distinctus (Tiny Black Gold Speckled-Winged Caddis) Caddisfly Adult

View 6 PicturesThis caddis species was dancing high over the stream, spaced a foot or two apart across most of its width, very much like Ephemera mayfly spinners but with more side-to-side motion mixed in. There were more than enough to get the trout interested, but I wasn't able to stick around until they fell on the water (if they did at all).

Collected May 28, 2007 from Mystery Creek #42 in Pennsylvania
Added to Troutnut.com by Troutnut on June 4, 2007

Female Dolophilodes distinctus (Tiny Black Gold Speckled-Winged Caddis) Caddisfly Adult

View 6 PicturesThis is a really strange specimen. I would guess it's one of the dry caddis pupa that scoots across the surface of the water as a pupa rather than emerging right away. Its "wing pads (

The wing pads on this final instar Baetidae mayfly nymph are extremely dark.

Wing pad: A protrusion from the thorax of an insect nymph which holds the developing wings. Black wing pads usually indicate that the nymph is nearly ready to emerge into an adult.)" sure don't look right, though. Maybe they're deformed and that's why I was able to find this one as a pupa in the first place. It also looks like it might be a caddis adult missing its wings, but since I found three of them, that kind of rules out such an anomalous maiming.

I found this one and one other on a midstream rock. The previous day, I caught a similar creature kicking around on the water's surface.

This one died and shriveled a little bit before I could photograph it, but it's basically in its original shape.

Collected May 29, 2007 from Brodhead Creek in Pennsylvania
Added to Troutnut.com by Troutnut on June 4, 2007

Dolophilodes distinctus (Tiny Black Gold Speckled-Winged Caddis) Caddisfly Larva

View 4 Pictures

Collected February 7, 2004 from unknown in Wisconsin
Added to Troutnut.com by Troutnut on January 25, 2006

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Jargon Defined:

Emergence: The transformation of a nymph or pupa into the adult winged stage of an insect. The term may refer to the emergence of an individual, or the daily or yearly event in which all individuals of a species emerge.

Pupae: Any insect which spends most of its juvenile lifetime as a larva first becomes a pupa for a time before emerging as a fully grown adult. Depending on the species, the pupal form can be very important for fly fishermen to imitate.

The wing pads on this final instar Baetidae mayfly nymph are extremely dark.

Wing pads: A protrusion from the thorax of an insect nymph which holds the developing wings. Black wing pads usually indicate that the nymph is nearly ready to emerge into an adult.

Useful References:

LaFontaine, Gary. 1981. Caddisflies. The Lyons Press.

Swisher, Doug and Carl Richards. 2000. Selective Trout. The Lyons Press.