| | Insects of Britain and Ireland: the families of Trichoptera (caddis flies) |
Adults. Antennae much shorter than the fore-wings to about as long as the fore-wings; stout. Ocelli absent. Maxillary palps 5 segmented; filiform, with cylindrical segments; the terminal segment flexible, multi-articulated, annulated and generally relatively elongated. The mesoscutum with a pair of warts.
The fore-wings 6–13 mm long; with a median cell; with a discoidal cell (this small); apical forks 4 (Cyrnus lacking no. 1), or 5 (mostly with all five present). The hind-wings similar in width to the fore-wings; without a median cell; with a discoidal cell, or without a discoidal cell; apical forks 2 (forks 2 and five only, in Holocentropus and Cyrnus), or 3 (1, 2 and 5, in Plectrocnemia and Polycentropus), or 4 (1, 2, 3 and 5 in Neureclipsis).
Front tibia 3 spurred. Middle tibia 4 spurred. Hind tibia 4 spurred.
Larvae. The larvae case-less and free swimming; forming silken nets; campodeoid. The labrum sclerotized. The anterior margin of the pronotum sclerotized, but only lightly so. The mesonotum entirely membranous. The metanotum entirely membranous.
Comments. The larvae greenish.
British representation. 13 species. Genera: Cyrnus, Holocentropus, Neureclipsis, Plectrocnemia, Polycentropus.
Illustrations. • 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). • Plectronemia and Holocentropus: larvae. Larvae of Plectronemia conspersa (above), and Holocentropus dubius. From Hickin (1952).
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’.
