Brachycentridae is a family of humpless casemaker caddisflies in the order Trichoptera. It is found in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

, Europe, and Asia.

Georg Ulmer Georg Ulmer (5 March 1877, in Hamburg – 15 January 1963, in Hamburg) was a German entomologist who specialized in research of Trichoptera (caddisflies) and Ephemeroptera (mayflies). In 1899 he qualified as an instructor, and up until 1934 ...

first described it in Germany in 1903 as a subfamily of

Sericostomatidae Sericostomatidae is a family of bushtailed caddisflies in the order Trichoptera. There are about 19 genera and at least 90 described species in Sericostomatidae. The type genus In biological taxonomy, the type genus is the genus which ...

.Ulmer, p. 18. The type genus for Brachycentridae is ''

Brachycentrus ''Brachycentrus'' is a genus of humpless casemaker caddisflies in the family Brachycentridae Brachycentridae is a family of humpless casemaker caddisflies in the order Trichoptera. It is found in North America, Europe, and Asia. Georg Ulmer fi ...

'' J. Curtis, 1834.

Distribution

The family Brachycentridae contains at least 100 species in about 8 genera. The genera ''Adicrophelps'' and ''Amiocentrus'' are found near the

Arctic circle The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the most northerly of the five major circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth. Its southern equivalent is the Antarctic Circle. The Arctic Circle marks the southernmost latitude at w ...

. ''Doliocentrus'' and ''Eorbachycentrus'' are found in southeastern Siberia and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

and Western North America respectively.

Larvae

Most species'

larvae A larva (; plural larvae ) 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. The ...

make cases using plant or rock material. Several others make it out of silk. A few species' larvae in ''Brachycentrus'' form cases in the water with hairs sticking out to absorb food from the water.Wiggins, p. 292.

Genera

These eight genera belong to the family Brachycentridae: * ''

Adicrophleps ''Adicrophleps'' is a genus of humpless casemaker caddisflies in the family Brachycentridae Brachycentridae is a family of humpless casemaker caddisflies in the order Trichoptera. It is found in North America, Europe, and Asia. Georg Ulmer fir ...

'' Flint, 1965^{i c g b} * ''

Amiocentrus ''Amiocentrus'' is a genus of humpless casemaker caddisflies in the family Brachycentridae Brachycentridae is a family of humpless casemaker caddisflies in the order Trichoptera. It is found in North America, Europe, and Asia. Georg Ulmer firs ...

'' Ross, 1938^{i c g b} * '' Baissoplectrum'' Ivanov, 2006^g * ''

'' Curtis, 1834^{i c g b} * '' Dolichocentrus'' Martynov, 1935^{i c g} * '' Eobrachycentrus'' Wiggins, 1965^{i c g} * '' Hummeliella'' Forsslund, 1936^{i c g} * ''

Micrasema ''Micrasema'' is a genus of humpless casemaker caddisflies in the family Brachycentridae. There are more than 70 described species in ''Micrasema''. Species These 73 species belong to the genus ''Micrasema'': * ''Micrasema abbreviatum'' Pongracz ...

'' McLachlan, 1876^{i c g b} Data sources: i = ITIS, c = Catalogue of Life, g = GBIF, b = Bugguide.net

References

Bibliography

* Ulmer, G. (1903) ''Ueber die Metamorphose der Trichopteren''. Hamburg, Germany: Abhandlungen des Naturwissenschaftlichen. * Wiggins, G. B. (2004) ''Caddisflies: the underwater architects''. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. * Trichoptera families {{Trichoptera-stub