| | 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; slender; with a short first segment. Ocelli present. Maxillary palps 5 segmented; filiform, with cylindrical segments; the terminal segment inflexible, not multi-articulated, not annulated, and not much elongated.
The fore-wings (8–)10–15(–16) mm long; without a discoidal cell; apical forks 5 (i.e., with 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5). The hind-wings similar in width to the fore-wings; without a discoidal cell; apical forks 4 (with 1, 2, 3 and 5).
Front tibia 3 spurred. Middle tibia 4 spurred. Hind tibia 4 spurred.
Larvae. The larvae case-less and free swimming; not net-forming; campodeoid. The labrum sclerotized. The anterior margin of the pronotum sclerotized, but only lightly so. The mesonotum entirely membranous. The metanotum entirely membranous. Abdominal segment 1 without retractable papillae. The larva with the terminal abdominal prolegs free of one another.
British representation. 4 species. Genera: Rhyacophila.
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). • Rhyacophila sp.: larva. Larva of a Rhyacophila species. 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’.
