| | Insects of Britain and Ireland: the families of Trichoptera (caddis flies) |
Limnophilidae.
Adults. Antennae about as long as the fore-wings (if shorter, only slightly so); fairly stout to slender. Ocelli present. Maxillary palps scarcely pubescent, 3 segmented (in males), or 5 segmented (in females, similar in form in both sexes). The maxillary palps of males 3 segmented. Maxillary palps filiform, with cylindrical segments; the terminal segment inflexible, not multi-articulated, not annulated, and not much elongated (at least in the female). The mesoscutum without warts. The scutellum exhibiting a pair of warts.
The fore-wings (7–)10–20(–25) mm long; with a discoidal cell; apical forks 4 (1, 2, 3 and 5). The hind-wings wider than the fore-wings; with a discoidal cell (usually), or without a discoidal cell; apical forks 4 (1, 2, 3 and 5).
Front tibia 0 spurred, or 1 spurred. Middle tibia 1–3 spurred. Hind tibia 1–4 spurred.
Larvae. The larvae constructing and living in transportable cases (the cases varied, of sand, sticks, leaves, shells, or mixtures); eruciform. The thorax with a forwardly-directed prosternal horn between the first pair of legs. The mesonotum sclerotized; entire, or divided longitudinally into two sclerites. The metanotum sclerotized; divided into six sclerites. Abdominal segment 1 with retractable papillae; 8 without a lateral comb of fine spicules. The larva with the terminal abdominal prolegs fused basally, forming an ostensible tenth segment.
Comments. In the aberrant genus Eniocyla, the female has only vestigial wings, and the larvae live often far from water, in moss around tree roots.
British representation. 54 species. Genera: Allogamus, Anabolia, Apatania, Chaetopteryx, Drusus, Ecclisopteryx, Eniocyla, Glyphotaelius, Halesus, Grammotaulius, Hydatophylax, Ironoquia, Limnephilus, Melampophylax, Mesophylax, Potamophylax, Rhadicoleptus, Stenophylax.
Illustrations. • Limnephilus elegans Curtis (Elegant Grannom, Caddis-fly: B. Ent. 488). • Limnephilus elegans (B. Ent. 488, legend+text). This may be a repetition of Curtis's original description of the species (see the following page for another reference also dating from 1834). • Limnephilus elegans (B. Ent. 488, text cont.). • Drusus annulatus Stephens (as Anabolia annulata): Stephens VI, 1835. • Limnephilus: fore-wings of 18 species. Fore-wings of Limnephilus species. 1, L. rhombicus; 2, L. marmoratus; 3, L. flavicornis; 4, L. griseus; 5, L. borealis; 6, L. subcentralis; 7, L. lunatus; 8, L. centralis; 9, L. vittatus; 10, L. xanthodes; 11, L. stigma; 12, L. affinis; 13, L. decipiens; 14, L. sparsus; 15, L. ignavus; 16, L. extricatus; 17, L. elegans; 18, L. auricula. From Mosely (1939, with approximate fore-wing lengths added). • 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). • Glyphotaelius and Limnephilus: larvae and cases. 1a and 1b, a larva of Limnephilus vittatus, in its case, and (1b) its head and thorax from above; 1c, the larva of a Limnephilus sp. removed from its case. 2a, a larval case of Limnephilus flavicornis; 2b, a larva of Limnephilus flavicornis in its case of water-snail shells. 3, a larva of Glyphotaelius pellucidus, in its case of vegetable fragments, From Hickin (1952). • Anabolia: larva and case. A larval case of Anabolia nervosa, and the larva of an Anabolia sp. removed from its case. From Hickin (1952). • Apatania auricula: Stephens VI, 1835 (as Glossosoma fimbriata). • ‘Grammotaulius nigripunctatus’: Stephens VI. 1835 (as Mormonia nigripunctata).
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’.
