caddisfly

/kad"is fluy'/, n., pl. caddisflies.

any of numerous aquatic insects constituting the order Trichoptera, having two pairs of membranous, often hairy wings and superficially resembling moths.

Also, caddicefly. Cf. caddisworm.

[1780-90; see CADDISWORM, FLY²]

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▪ insect

Introduction

      any of a group of mothlike insects that are attracted to lights at night and live near lakes or rivers. Because fish feed on the immature, aquatic stages and trout take flying adults, caddisflies are often used as models for fishermen's “flies.”

General features

      Adult caddisflies are commonly 3 to 15 millimetres (0.118 to 0.590 inch) in length. Their anterior wings usually range from 4 to 20 millimetres in length, providing wing spans of 8 to 40 millimetres. The wings at rest are folded rooflike and cover the top of the body. One family (Hydroptilidae), commonly known as microcaddis, are only 1.5 millimetres in length, with anterior wings of 2 to 5 millimetres. Caddisfly wings either are covered with hairs or have hairs on the veins. The posterior wings are often broader than the anterior wings.

      Caddisflies are widely distributed in freshwater habitats throughout the world. The larva of one marine species, Philanisus plebeius, occurs in intertidal zones of New Zealand and southern Australian coasts. The larva of one terrestrial European species, Enoicyla pusilla, lives in damp leaf litter, while one or two other species occur in brackish water. Approximately 7,000 species of caddisflies are known.

Natural history

Life cycle

      Eggs, in masses numbering up to 800, are laid within a jelly that swells on contact with water. A female may wash off a partially extruded egg mass by dipping her abdomen into water during flight, or she may place the mass on stones in the water or on aquatic plants just above the water.

      Young larvae hatch within a few days. Depending on the species, larvae may be herbivorous, carnivorous, or omnivorous. In some species the larvae form webs of debris for protection, while others form a funnel-like web between stones in running water to catch food. Some protect their bodies with cases, whereas others spin protective lairs or are free-living. They produce silk from glands on the lower lip (labium), and many herbivorous species spin tubular protective cases that are open at both ends and enlarge as the larvae grow. Sand grains or vegetable debris are added to cases to provide protection and rigidity. In casebearing forms the head and thorax protrude from the case, which is pulled along by the abdomen. Undulating movements of the enclosed larvae circulate water to provide oxygen for respiration. Larvae of one species (Triaenodes bicolor) swim by means of long, slender, hair-fringed posterior legs, dragging their cases through the water.

      Prior to the last molt before the pupal stage, the larva attaches the case to some solid object and closes both ends for further protection, leaving only water circulation holes. The larva pupates inside the larval case, which then becomes a cocoon, or inside a specially constructed cocoon. After two or three weeks the pupa bites its way out of the cocoon and swims or crawls to the water surface, using its hair-fringed middle pair of legs. Caddisfly adults sometimes emerge in large numbers, often forming swarms. Caddisflies live several weeks and usually mate on vegetation or rocks surrounding water. There is generally one complete generation per year.

Ecology

      Caddisflies are aquatic insects associated with a wide range of freshwater habitats. Oxygen concentration, associated with water velocity, is important to their larvae, as is the chemical content of the water. In fact, certain species have been used as biotic indicators of pollution. Although most larvae feed on aquatic plants, algae, diatoms, or plant debris, a few are predatory on other aquatic insects, crustaceans, and mollusks, and a few are omnivorous. The larvae play an important role in the aquatic community, reducing plant growth and disposing of animal and plant debris. Most adult caddisflies are incapable of feeding on solids and instead imbibe nectar from flowers. One species pollinates an Alpine flower as it feeds.

      Sponges and algae grow on the protective cases, and protozoans and mites grow on the larvae of some species. Two hymenopterans parasitize (parasitism) caddisflies. The parasitic wasp seeks its host underwater and lays its eggs inside the caddisfly larval case. The parasitic larva devours the caddisfly larva and remains inside the case to pupate, after which the adult parasite overwinters in the case and emerges in the early summer. Caddisflies are important as food for other animals. Freshwater fish, particularly trout, and eels feed on larvae and swimming pupae. Trout, birds, lizards, frogs, spiders, dragonflies, and bats feed on adults. Day flight of caddisflies includes stationary swarming, usually centring around some obvious object on the shore, or mobile swarming, in which the swarms seem to move haphazardly. However, most species fly at night and are strongly attracted to light. Warm moist nights are particularly conducive to caddisfly flight.

Form and function

      Trichopteran adults are characterized by four wings that bear hairs on the membrane or prominent veins, or both. The head and thorax are also usually hairy. The antennae are long and slender and are usually about the length of the anterior wing, but they may be longer than the wingspan. Mouthparts have nonfunctional mandibles but well-developed maxillary and labial palpi (or sensory appendages). The hypopharynx is modified to form a sucking tongue for imbibing fluids. Various sensory and scent organs may occur on the head or wings. Each of the three thoracic segments bears a pair of walking legs. Several of the 10 abdominal segments may bear lateral filaments (or cerci), often with complicated external genitalia terminally in males, sometimes with prominent ovipositors in females. Spermatozoa are transferred either directly or in spermatophores (capsules transferred to females).

evolution and paleontology

      The caddisflies were long classified in the order Neuroptera. However, the two groups are now thought to represent different evolutionary lines. Ancestral Mecoptera (scorpionflies) probably gave rise to the Neuroptera (lacewings), Trichoptera (caddisflies), and Lepidoptera (moths, butterflies). The closely related Trichoptera and Lepidoptera (lepidopteran) may have arisen from a common offshoot. Early aquatic trichopterans may have diverged from the terrestrial line in the Late Triassic Period (about 200,000,000 years ago). The earliest known trichopteran fossils are from the Early Jurassic Period (about 185,000,000 years ago). A few fossil wing prints from the Cretaceous Period (about 65,000,000 to 136,000,000 years ago) are known; many fossils in Oligocene Baltic amber (about 26,000,000 to 38,000,000 years ago) belong to or are related to living genera. Later fossil wing prints occur in Miocene deposits.

Classification

Distinguishing taxonomic features

      Caddisflies are mothlike insects with two pairs of hairy wings that are folded rooflike over the abdomen at rest. Antennae are long and many jointed with a large basal segment. Large compound eyes are present, whereas simple eyes (ocelli) either number three or are absent. The number of maxillary palpal joints usually is five but varies between two and six. Posterior wings are broader than anterior and the pattern of veins is generalized and sometimes reduced. Legs are long and slender with five-jointed tarsi. Tibial leg segments may bear variable numbers of spurs. Male genitalia are often complex and have been used for species identification; female genitalia are of increasing taxonomic significance. Another system of identification relies on the internal characters such as internal head skeletal structures, known collectively as the tentorium. Larvae are essentially aquatic. Campodeiform (elongated and flattened) larvae are found in aquatic habitats and are either free-living or net forming, whereas eruciform (caterpillar-like) larvae are casebearing. In some groups head capsules, functional mandibles, thoracic shields, abdominal gills, abdominal prolegs or hooks, and types of nets or cases are distinct. In all larvae, antennae are short, and spiracles absent. Pupae have functional mandibles, free limbs, and hook-bearing dorsal plates.

Annotated classification

      The number of living families has recently increased. Nineteen were listed in 1953 and 34 (based on a different method of classification) in 1967. The following is based on the later scheme.

Order Trichoptera (caddisflies)

 Insects with 2 pairs of wings held rooflike over the body in repose; the wing membrane or veins, or both, with hairs; wing vein pattern generalized; tibiae usually with spurs, tarsi 5-jointed; larvae and pupae aquatic, with functional mandibles; larvae with terminal abdominal hooked prolegs or hooks, free-living, net spinning, or casemaking, pupate in larval case or cocoon.

      Suborder Annulipalpia

 Terminal segment of maxillary palpi annulate (with ringed appearance) or subdivided; larvae, net spinners.

      Superfamily Hydropsychoidea

 Antennae usually anterior wing length or less.

      Family Stenopsychidae

 Closely related to Philopotamidae; ocelli large or absent; larval head elongated.

      Family Xiphocentrionidae

 Closely related to Psychomyiidae; ocelli absent.

      Family Psychomyiidae

 Ocelli absent.

      Family Polycentropodidae

 Ocelli absent.

      Family Dipseudopsidae

 Closely related to Polycentropodidae.

      Family Hydropsychidae

 Antennae mostly about anterior wing length or slightly longer; ocelli absent; larvae with many-branched ventral abdominal gills on most segments.

      Suborder Integripalpia

 Terminal segment of maxillary palpi undivided; larvae free-living or case makers.

      Superfamily Rhyacophiloidea

 Antennae shorter than anterior wing length.

      Family Rhyacophiloidae

 Ocelli present; larvae free-living, produce a single line of silk.

      Family Glossosomatidae

 Adults similar to Rhyacophilidae; larvae, saddle case makers with modified terminal prolegs and hooks.

      Family Hydroptilidae (microcaddis)

 Ocelli present or absent; wings reduced, narrow, with long hair fringes; larvae purse case makers or tube case makers in last larval stage; earlier stages free-living.

      Superfamily Limnephiloidea

 Larvae, tube case makers.

      Superfamily Philopotamoidea

 

      Family Philopotamidae

 Ocelli medium to small; larval head elongated.

      Limnephilid Branch

 Antennae about anterior wing length; ocelli usually present; adult mandibles reduced or lost.

      Family Limnocentropodidae

 Primitive articulating mandibles.

      Family Brachycentridae

 Maxillary palpi 3-jointed in male.

      Family Phryganeidae

 Maxillary palpi usually 4-jointed in male.

      Family Phryganopsychidae

 Male maxillary palpi 4-jointed.

      Family Goeridae

 Ocelli absent; maxillary palpi of male 3-jointed.

      Family Thremnidae

 Closely related to Limnephilidae.

      Family Limnephilidae

 Maxillary palpi of male 3-jointed.

      Family Plectrotarsidae

 Closely related to Limnephilidae; specialized elongated mouthparts.

      Family Lepidostomatidae

 Ocelli absent; maxillary palpi 3-jointed in male.

      Family Rhynchopsychidae

 Closely related to Lepidostomatidae, but mouthparts elongated.

      Leptocerid Branch

 Antennae about anterior wing length or less, except Leptoceridae; ocelli absent.

      Family Pisuliidae

 Male maxillary palpi 3-jointed.

      Family Calocidae

 Maxillary palpi 5-jointed.

      Family Pycnocentrellidae

 Maxillary palpi 5-jointed.

      Family Beraeidae

 Maxillary palpi 5-jointed.

      Family Sericostomatidae

 Male maxillary palpi 3-jointed or less.

      Family Helicophidae

 Maxillary palpi 5-jointed, both sexes.

      Family Philanisidae

 Maxillary palpi 5-jointed in both sexes; larvae only in marine littoral zone.

      Family Antipodoeciidae

 Apparently related to Odontoceridae; male maxillary palpi 3-jointed.

      Family Odontoceridae

 Maxillary palpi 5-jointed.

      Family Molannidae

 Maxillary palpi 5-jointed; claws specialized.

      Family Philorheithridae

 Maxillary palpi of males 5-, 4- and 3-jointed, basal joint with nodule.

      Family Helicopsychidae

 Maxillary palpi of male 2-jointed; larval cases look like small snail shells; very small in size, traditionally placed in Sericostomatidae; many adult characters reduced or absent; relationships uncertain.

      Family Calamoceratidae

 Maxillary palpi 5- or 6-jointed.

      Family Leptoceridae

 Antennae longer than wingspan; maxillary palpi 5-jointed; anterior wings elongated; vein pattern reduced.

Critical appraisal

      Many species of caddisflies have been described from male characteristics, particularly genitalia only, family characters being assumed. Work in recent years on female characters, internal adult characters, and larval characters has revealed new sources of taxonomic information. Further progress in classification depends upon these detailed studies. The classification used above reveals the extent of progress thus far.

Keith Arthur John Wise

Additional Reading

F.C.J. Fischer, Trichopterorum Catalogus, 16 vol. in 10 (1960–73), provides a thorough checklist of world Trichoptera. N.E. Hickin, Caddis Larvae: Larvae of the British “Trichoptera” (1967), is a comprehensive work on caddis larvae. M.E. Mosely and D.E. Kimmins, The Trichoptera (Caddis-Flies) of Australia and New Zealand (1953), serves as a basic study of fauna, including species of importance in world classification. H.H. Ross, “The Evolution and Past Dispersal of the Trichoptera,” A. Rev. Ent., 12:169–206 (1967), is a brief work that includes a revolutionary reclassification of the Trichoptera. Gary LaFontaine, Caddisflies (1981), contains general information about caddisflies. R.W. Holzenthal and O.S. Flint, Jr. (eds.), Proceedings of the 8th International Symposium on Trichoptera (1997), covers a wide range of subjects presented at the Ohio Biological Survey symposium.Keith Arthur John Wise

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