TRICHOPTERA: CADDISFLIES
Definition
- Trichoptera means hairy winged (‘trichia’ = hairs, ‘ptera’ = wings). They look rather like those moths which hold their wings over the back like a sharply-angled roof, but those have scales on the wings. The antennae are long and thread-like.
- Larvae are aquatic (with one exception) and they make fixed or portable homes to live in.
- The larvae have jaws for biting and chewing. Adults rarely feed.
- The life cycle is complete :- egg, larva, pupa and adult.
What they do & where they live
- They breed in many types of pond, lake or water-filled ditch where there is aquatic or marginal vegetation suitable as larval food and for case-making. Many specialise in streams and rivers, such as those that make nets for catching down-drift food items, including any small animals. Adults are found on water-side vegetation and tree foliage.
- Providing waters are not polluted and have a reasonably natural-look (even if artificial) there is likely to be a caddis fauna. Many of the species characterise particular types of water ecology.
Number of species
- In Britain 189 species.
- The world fauna is 7,000 species.
It's amazing Caddis larvae are famous for making mobile homes for protection. However, there are non-mobile ones, including those that make a ‘fishing’ net that filters out food as water in streams and rivers flows past.
