| | 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; 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 with a pair of warts.
The fore-wings (4–)5–8 mm long; with a discoidal cell; apical forks 4 (2, 3, 4 and 5), or 5 (with 1 present as well in Economus). The hind-wings narrower than the fore-wings; without a discoidal cell (except in Lype reducta); apical forks 2 (2 and 5), or 3 (2, 3 and 5).
Front tibia 2 spurred (nearly always), or 3 spurred (only in Ecnomus tenellus). Middle tibia 4 spurred. Hind tibia 4 spurred.
Larvae. The larvae constructing fixed, silken tubes (these often at least 4 cm long, with attached sand grains, mud, etc., and attached to a stone or other support), or inhabiting freshwater sponges (Ecnomus tenellus only); campodeoid. The labrum sclerotized. The anterior margin of the pronotum sclerotized, but only lightly so. The mesonotum sclerotized (Ecnomus), or entirely membranous. The metanotum sclerotized (Ecnomus), or entirely membranous; in Ecnomus, divided longitudinally into two sclerites. Abdominal segment 1 without retractable papillae. The larva with the terminal abdominal prolegs free of one another.
British representation. 13 species. Genera: Ecnomus, Lype, Metalype, Psychomyia, Tinodes.
Illustrations. • Metalype, Psychomyia, Tinodes: wing venation. Fore- and hind-wings of male Tinodes waeneri (1); male Metalype fragilis (2); and male Psychomyia pusilla (3). Apical forks numbered. From Mosely (1939). • Lype and Tinodes: larvae and tunnel. 1a, a larva of Lype reducta; 1b, a tunnel of the latter, attached to a submerged stick. 2a, a larva of Tinodes waeneri, and (2b) detail of its head. 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’.
