| | Insects of Britain and Ireland: the families of Trichoptera (caddis flies) |
Adults. Antennae about as long as the fore-wings to considerably longer than the fore-wings; with an elongated first segment to with a short first segment. Ocelli absent. Maxillary palps 5 segmented; filiform, with cylindrical segments; the terminal segment flexible, multi-articulated, annulated and generally relatively elongated. The mesoscutum without warts.
The fore-wings 7–12 mm long; with a discoidal cell; apical forks 5 (i.e., 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5). The hind-wings similar in width to the fore-wings to wider than the fore-wings; with a median cell, or without a median cell; with a discoidal cell; apical forks 4 (1, 2, 3 and 5).
Front tibia 2 spurred. Middle tibia 2 spurred. Hind tibia 4 spurred.
Larvae. The larvae constructing fixed retreats of stones and vegetable dèbris; forming silken nets (the wide net constructed adjacent to the entrance of the shelter); campodeoid. The mesonotum sclerotized; entire. The metanotum sclerotized; entire, or divided longitudinally into two sclerites. Abdominal segment 1 without retractable papillae. The larva with the terminal abdominal prolegs free of one another.
Comments. If the larvae are mainly vegetarian (see Riek, 1970), the function of the net is unclear.
British representation. 10 species. Genera: Cheumatopsyche, Diplectrona, Hydropsyche.
Illustrations. • Hydropsyche fulvipes Curtis: B. Ent. 601. • Hydropsyche fulvipes Curtis: B. Ent. 601, legend+text. • Hydropsyche fulvipes Curtis: B. Ent. 601, text cont.. • Wings of assorted Trichoptera. Trichopteran wings. PHRYGANEIDAE: 1, female Oligotricha clathrata (fore-wing); 2, female Phryganea grandis (fore-wing); 3, female Phryganea striata (fore-wing); 4, female Phryganea varia (fore-wing). LIMNEPHILIDAE: 5, male Glyphotaelius pellucidus (fore-wing); 6, female Glyphotaelius pellucidus (fore-wing); 7, Rhadicoleptus alpestris (fore-wing); 8, Potamophylax latipennis (fore-wing); 9, Halesus digitatus (fore-wing); 10, Chaeropteryx villosa (fore-wing). SERICOSOMATIDAE: 11, male Lepidostoma hirtum ( hind-wing); 12, male Silo nigricornis (hind-wing). LEPTOCERIDAE: 13, Mystacides longicornis (fore-wing). HYDROPSYCHIDAE: 14, Hydropsyche instabilis (fore-wing). POLYCENTROPIDAE: 15, Plectronemia conspersa (fore-wing). PHILOPOTAMIDAE: 16, Philopotamus montanus (fore-wing). RHYACOPHILIDAE: Rhyacophila dorsalis (fore-wing). From Mosely (1939, with approximate wing lengths added). • Hydropsyche: larva. Larva of Hydropsyche sp. From Hickin (1952). • Diplectrona felix: Stephens VI, 1835 (as Aphelocheira flavomaculata).
We advise against extracting comparative information from the descriptions. This is much more easily achieved using the DELTA data files or the interactive key, which allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, and distributions of character states within any set of taxa. See also Guidelines for using data taken from Web publications.
Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 2003 onwards. Insects of Britain and Ireland: the families of Trichoptera (caddis flies). Version: 27th July 2019. delta-intkey.com’.
