Limnephilidae
Encyclopedia
Limnephilidae is a family of caddisflies
with about 100 genera
. They belong to the main lineage of case-constructing caddisflies, the Integripalpia
or tube-case caddisflies. The Limnephilidae is one of the most species-rich Trichoptera families of northern temperate
regions, but only a few are known from tropical areas and the Southern Hemisphere
. For this reason they are often known as northern caddisflies.
larva
e construct portable cases from a wide variety of plant
and mineral
materials, sometimes even snail
shells. Cases of young larvae often looking completely different from those of larger instar
s. Larvae tend to be eruciform
(with a thickset head and thorax
), rather slow-moving, and usually feed by browsing algae
or scavenging animal remains. They pupa
te within the larval case, the pupa swimming to the surface before flying away as an adult. For most species the life cycle is completed within one year.
The family includes one extraordinary aberrant genus, Enoicyla, whose larvae are terrestrial
, living among moss
and leaf litter. The females of Enoicyla have only vestigial wings and are flightless.
Trichoptera
The caddisflies are an order, Trichoptera, of insects with approximately 12,000 described species. Also called sedge-flies or rail-flies, they are small moth-like insects having two pairs of hairy membranous wings...
with about 100 genera
Genera
Genera is a commercial operating system and development environment for Lisp machines developed by Symbolics. It is essentially a fork of an earlier operating system originating on the MIT AI Lab's Lisp machines which Symbolics had used in common with LMI and Texas Instruments...
. They belong to the main lineage of case-constructing caddisflies, the Integripalpia
Integripalpia
Integripalpia is a suborder of Trichoptera, the caddisflies. The name refers to the unringed nature of maxillary palp's terminal segment in the adults. Integripalpian larvae construct portable cases out of debris during the first larval instar, and are enlarged through subsequent instars...
or tube-case caddisflies. The Limnephilidae is one of the most species-rich Trichoptera families of northern temperate
Temperate
In geography, temperate or tepid latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. The changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally relatively moderate, rather than extreme hot or cold...
regions, but only a few are known from tropical areas and the Southern Hemisphere
Southern Hemisphere
The Southern Hemisphere is the part of Earth that lies south of the equator. The word hemisphere literally means 'half ball' or "half sphere"...
. For this reason they are often known as northern caddisflies.
Description and ecology
The adults are usually brown in colour, often with narrow mottled or patterned forewings and much broader, transparent hindwings. The aquaticAquatic animal
An aquatic animal is an animal, either vertebrate or invertebrate, which lives in water for most or all of its life. It may breathe air or extract its oxygen from that dissolved in water through specialised organs called gills, or directly through its skin. Natural environments and the animals that...
larva
Larva
A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...
e construct portable cases from a wide variety of plant
Plant
Plants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Precise definitions of the kingdom vary, but as the term is used here, plants include familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The group is also called green plants or...
and mineral
Mineral
A mineral is a naturally occurring solid chemical substance formed through biogeochemical processes, having characteristic chemical composition, highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties. By comparison, a rock is an aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids and does not...
materials, sometimes even snail
Snail
Snail is a common name applied to most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word is used in its most general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. The word snail without any qualifier is however more often...
shells. Cases of young larvae often looking completely different from those of larger instar
Instar
An instar is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, between each molt , until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to grow or assume a new form. Differences between instars can often be seen in altered body proportions, colors, patterns, or...
s. Larvae tend to be eruciform
Eruciform
Eruciform is the entomological term describing a certain class of shapes of insect larvae.-Origin and application:...
(with a thickset head and thorax
Thorax
The thorax is a division of an animal's body that lies between the head and the abdomen.-In tetrapods:...
), rather slow-moving, and usually feed by browsing algae
Algae
Algae are a large and diverse group of simple, typically autotrophic organisms, ranging from unicellular to multicellular forms, such as the giant kelps that grow to 65 meters in length. They are photosynthetic like plants, and "simple" because their tissues are not organized into the many...
or scavenging animal remains. They pupa
Pupa
A pupa is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation. The pupal stage is found only in holometabolous insects, those that undergo a complete metamorphosis, going through four life stages; embryo, larva, pupa and imago...
te within the larval case, the pupa swimming to the surface before flying away as an adult. For most species the life cycle is completed within one year.
The family includes one extraordinary aberrant genus, Enoicyla, whose larvae are terrestrial
Terrestrial animal
Terrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land , as compared with aquatic animals, which live predominantly or entirely in the water , or amphibians, which rely on a combination of aquatic and terrestrial habitats...
, living among moss
Moss
Mosses are small, soft plants that are typically 1–10 cm tall, though some species are much larger. They commonly grow close together in clumps or mats in damp or shady locations. They do not have flowers or seeds, and their simple leaves cover the thin wiry stems...
and leaf litter. The females of Enoicyla have only vestigial wings and are flightless.
Systematics
The Limnephilidae are divided among the four subfamilies listed here (with some notable genera also given). A few genera are not presently assignable to subfamily.- Dicosmoecinae
- Drusinae
- Drusus
- Limnephilinae
- Anabolia
- Chaetopteryx
- Enoicyla
- Glyphotaelius
- Limnephilus
- Parachiona
- ChilostigmaChilostigmaChilostigma is a genus of caddisflies in the family Limnephilidae. All of its members are found in Scandinavia and Finland, apart from Chilostigma itascae, which has only been recorded from Nicollet Creek in the Mississippi River's headwaters of Itasca State Park, Minnesota, and Chilostigma...
- Pseudostenophylacinae
- Incertae sedisIncertae sedis, is a term used to define a taxonomic group where its broader relationships are unknown or undefined. Uncertainty at specific taxonomic levels is attributed by , , and similar terms.-Examples:*The fossil plant Paradinandra suecica could not be assigned to any...
- Allomyia
- Manophylax
- Moselyana
- Pedomoecus