The caddisflies, or order Trichoptera, are a group of

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three ...

s with aquatic larvae and terrestrial adults. There are approximately 14,500 described species, most of which can be divided into the suborders

Integripalpia The Integripalpia are a suborder of Trichoptera The caddisflies, or order Trichoptera, are a group of insects with aquatic larvae and terrestrial adults. There are approximately 14,500 described species, most of which can be divided into th ...

and

Annulipalpia The Annulipalpia, also known as the "fixed-retreat makers", are a suborder of Trichoptera, the caddisflies.Glenn B. Wiggins, ''Larvae of the North American Caddisfly Genera (Trichoptera)'', 2nd. ed. (Toronto: University Press, 1996), p. 117 The na ...

on the basis of the adult mouthparts. Integripalpian larvae construct a portable casing to protect themselves as they move around looking for food, while Annulipalpian larvae make themselves a fixed retreat in which they remain, waiting for food to come to them. The affinities of the small third suborder Spicipalpia are unclear, and molecular analysis suggests it may not be monophyletic. Also called sedge-flies or rail-flies, the adults are small

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

-like insects with two pairs of hairy membranous

wings A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expre ...

. They are closely related to the Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) which have scales on their wings; the two orders together form the superorder

Amphiesmenoptera Amphiesmenoptera is an insect superorder, established by S. G. Kiriakoff, but often credited to Willi Hennig in his revision of insect taxonomy for two sister orders: Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) and Trichoptera (caddisflies). In 2017, a t ...

. The aquatic

larva 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. ...

e are found in a wide variety of habitats such as streams, rivers, lakes, ponds, spring seeps and temporary waters (

vernal pool Vernal pools, also called vernal ponds or ephemeral pools, are seasonal pools of water that provide habitat for distinctive plants and animals. They are considered to be a distinctive type of wetland usually devoid of fish, and thus allow the safe ...

s).Glenn B. Wiggins, ''Larvae of the North American Caddisfly General (Trichoptera)'', 2nd. ed. (Toronto: University Press, 1996), p. 3 The larvae of many species use

silk Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the ...

to make protective cases, which are often strengthened with gravel, sand, twigs, bitten-off pieces of plants, or other debris. The larvae exhibit various feeding strategies, with different species being predators, leaf shredders, algal grazers, or collectors of particles from the water column and

benthos Benthos (), also known as benthon, is the community of organisms that live on, in, or near the bottom of a sea, river, lake, or stream, also known as the benthic zone.fly fishing, artificial flies are tied to imitate adults, while larvae and pupae are used as bait. Common and widespread genera such as ''

Helicopsyche ''Helicopsyche'' is a genus of Trichoptera, the caddisflies. ''Helicopsyche'' contains more than 230 species and are represented on all major faunal regions with highest diversity in tropical and sub-tropical regions. The genus was first describe ...

'' and ''

Hydropsyche ''Hydropsyche'' is a genus of netspinning caddisflies in the family Hydropsychidae. There are at least 260 described species in ''Hydropsyche''. Taxonomic note: *Type species: Hydropsyche cinerea FJ Pictet (selected by HH Ross, 1944, BullIllinois ...

'' are important in the sport, where caddisflies are known as "sedges". Caddisflies are useful as

bioindicator A bioindicator is any species (an indicator species) or group of species whose function, population, or status can reveal the qualitative status of the environment. The most common indicator species are animals. For example, copepods and other sma ...

s, as they are sensitive to

water pollution Water pollution (or aquatic pollution) is the contamination of water bodies, usually as a result of human activities, so that it negatively affects its uses. Water bodies include lakes, rivers, oceans, aquifers, reservoirs and groundwater. ...

and are large enough to be assessed in the field. In art, the French artist

Hubert Duprat Hubert Duprat is a French artist known for his unusual work, an artistic intersection between caddisfly larvae and gold, opal, turquoise and other precious stones. Caddisfly larvae live in fresh water and naturally construct elaborate protective t ...

has created works by providing caddis larvae with small grains of gold and precious stones for them to build into decorative cases.

Etymology

The name of the order "Trichoptera" derives from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

: (', "hair"), genitive ''trichos'' + (', "wing"), and refers to the fact that the wings of these insects are bristly. The origin of the word "caddis" is unclear, but it dates back to at least as far as Izaak Walton's 1653 book ''

The Compleat Angler ''The Compleat Angler'' (the spelling is sometimes modernised to ''The Complete Angler'', though this spelling also occurs in first editions) is a book by Izaak Walton. It was first published in 1653 by Richard Marriot in London. Walton continu ...

'', where "cod-worms or caddis" were mentioned as being used as bait. The term ''cadyss'' was being used in the fifteenth century for silk or cotton cloth, and "cadice-men" were itinerant vendors of such materials, but a connection between these words and the insects has not been established.

Evolution and phylogeny

Fossil history

Fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

caddisflies have been found in rocks dating back to the

Triassic The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago (Year#Abbreviations yr and ya, Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 ...

. The largest numbers of fossilised remains are those of larval cases, which are made of durable materials that preserve well. Body fossils of caddisflies are extremely rare, the oldest being from the Early and Middle Triassic, some 230 million years ago, and wings are another source of fossils. The evolution of the group to one with fully aquatic larvae seems to have taken place sometime during the Triassic. The finding of fossils resembling caddisfly larval cases in marine deposits in Brazil may push back the origins of the order to the Early Permian period.

Evolution

Nearly all adult caddisflies are terrestrial, but their larvae and pupae are aquatic. They share this characteristic with several distantly-related groups, namely the

dragonflies A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of true dragonfly are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threa ...

mayflies Mayflies (also known as shadflies or fishflies in Canada and the upper Midwestern United States, as Canadian soldiers in the American Great Lakes region, and as up-winged flies in the United Kingdom) are aquatic insects belonging to the order ...

, stoneflies, alderflies and lacewings. The ancestors of all these groups were terrestrial, with open tracheal systems, convergently evolving different types of gills for their aquatic larvae as they took to the water to avoid predation. About 14,500 species of caddisfly in 45 families have been recognised worldwide, but many more species remain to be described. Most can be divided into the suborders

and

on the basis of the adult mouthparts. The characteristics of adults depend on the

palp Pedipalps (commonly shortened to palps or palpi) are the second pair of appendages of chelicerates – a group of arthropods including spiders, scorpions, horseshoe crabs, and sea spiders. The pedipalps are lateral to the chelicerae ("jaws") ...

s, wing venation and

genitalia A sex organ (or reproductive organ) is any part of an animal or plant that is involved in sexual reproduction. The reproductive organs together constitute the reproductive system. In animals, the testis in the male, and the ovary in the female, a ...

of both sexes. The latter two characters have undergone such extensive differentiation among the different superfamilies that the differences between the suborders is not clear-cut. The larvae of Annulipalpians are campodeiform (free-living, well sclerotized, long legged predators with dorso-ventrally flattened bodies and protruding mouthparts). The larvae of Integripalpians are polypod (poorly sclerotized detritivores, with abdominal prolegs in addition to thoracic legs, living permanently in tight-fitting cases). The affinities of the third suborder, Spicipalpia, are unclear; the larvae are free-living with no cases, instead creating net-like traps from silk.

Phylogeny

The

cladogram A cladogram (from Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an evolutionary tree because it does not show how ancestors are related to ...

of external relationships, based on a 2008 DNA and

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, res ...

analysis, shows the order as a clade,

sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a family, familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to r ...

to the Lepidoptera, and more distantly related to the Diptera (true flies) and

Mecoptera Mecoptera (from the Greek: ''mecos'' = "long", ''ptera'' = "wings") is an order of insects in the superorder Endopterygota with about six hundred species in nine families worldwide. Mecopterans are sometimes called scorpionflies after their lar ...

(scorpionflies). The cladogram of relationships within the order is based on a 2002 molecular phylogeny using ribosomal RNA, a nuclear elongation factor gene, and mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase. The Annulipalpia and Integripalpia are clades, but the relationships within the Spicipalpia are unclear.

Distribution

Caddisflies are found worldwide, with the greater diversity being in warmer regions. They are associated with bodies of freshwater, the larvae being found in lakes, ponds, rivers, streams and other water bodies. The land caddis, '' Enoicyla pusilla'' (family: Limnephilidae), lives in the damp litter of the woodland floor. In the United Kingdom it is found in and around the county of

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

woods.

Ecology

Caddisfly larvae can be found in all feeding guilds in freshwater habitats. Most early stage larvae and some late stage ones are collector-gatherers, picking up fragments of organic matter from the

benthos Benthos (), also known as benthon, is the community of organisms that live on, in, or near the bottom of a sea, river, lake, or stream, also known as the benthic zone.periphyton Periphyton is a complex mixture of algae, cyanobacteria, heterotrophic microbes, and detritus that is attached to submerged surfaces in most aquatic ecosystems. The related term Aufwuchs (German "surface growth" or "overgrowth") refers to the col ...

that grows on underwater objects in sunlight. Others are shredder-herbivores, chewing fragments off living plant material while others are shredder-detritivores, gnawing at rotting wood or chewing dead leaves that have been pre-processed by bacteria and fungi; most of the nutrients of the latter group come from consumption of the bacteria and fungi. The predatory species either actively hunt their prey, typically other insects, tiny crustaceans and worms, or lie in wait for unwary invertebrates to come too close. A few species feed opportunistically on dead animals or fish, and some Leptoceridae larvae feed on freshwater sponges. One such opportunistic species is '' Gumaga nigricula'' (family: Sericostomatidae) which has been observed scavenging fish carcasses and even bits of deer flesh. This particular family of caddisflies are typically classified as shredders, suggesting caution when classifying macroinvertebrates into strict ecological functional groups, as some may shift their diets opportunistically. Like mayflies, stoneflies and dragonflies, but to a somewhat lesser extent, caddisflies are an indicator of good water quality; they die out of streams with polluted waters. They are an important part of the

food web A food web is the natural interconnection of food chains and a graphical representation of what-eats-what in an ecological community. Another name for food web is consumer-resource system. Ecologists can broadly lump all life forms into one o ...

, both larvae and adults being eaten by many fish. The newly hatched adult is particularly vulnerable as it struggles to the surface after emerging from the submerged pupa, and as it dries its wings. The fish find these new adults easy pickings, and fishing flies resembling them can be successful for anglers at the right time of year. The adult stage of a caddisfly may only survive for a few weeks; many species do not feed as adults and die soon after breeding, but some species are known to feed on nectar. The winged insects are nocturnal and provide food for night-flying birds, bats, small mammals, amphibians and arthropods. The larval stage lasts much longer, often for one or more years, and has a bigger impact on the environment. They form an important part of the diet of fish such as the

trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', '' Salmo'' and '' Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salm ...

. The fish acquire them by two means, either plucking them off vegetation or the stream-bed as the larvae move about, or during the daily behavioural drift; this drift happens during the night for many species of aquatic larvae, or around midday for some cased caddisfly species, and may result from population pressures or be a dispersal device. The larvae may drift in great numbers either close to the bottom, in mid-water or just below the surface. The fish swallow them whole, case and all.

Underwater structures

Cases

Caddisflies are best known for the portable cases created by their larvae. About thirty families of caddisfly, members of the suborder Integripalpia, adopt this stratagem. These larvae eat detritus, largely decaying vegetable material, and the dead leaf fragments on which they feed tend to accumulate in hollows, in slow-moving sections of streams and behind stones and tree roots. The cases provide protection to the larvae as they make their way between these resources. The case is a tubular structure made of

, secreted from salivary glands near the mouth of the larva, and is started soon after the egg hatches. Various reinforcements may be incorporated into its structure, the nature of the materials and design depending on the larva's genetic makeup; this means that caddisfly larvae can be recognised by their cases down to family, and even genus level. The materials used include grains of sand, larger fragments of rock, bark, sticks, leaves, seeds and mollusc shells. These are neatly arranged and stuck onto the outer surface of the silken tube. As the larva grows, more material is added at the front, and the larva can turn round in the tube and trim the rear end so that it does not drag along the substrate. Caddisfly cases are open at both ends, the larvae drawing oxygenated water through the posterior end, over their gills, and pumping it out of the wider, anterior end. The larvae move around inside the tubes and this helps maintain the water current; the lower the oxygen content of the water, the more active the larvae need to be. This mechanism enable caddisfly larvae to live in waters too low in oxygen content to support stonefly and mayfly larvae. File:Caddisfly-larva.jpg, Larva with portable case of rock fragments File:Caddisfly_Larva.jpg, Larva emerging from case made of plant material File:Trichoptera larvenbau.jpeg, Larval case of Limnephilidae made of bitten-off plant pieces File:L flavicornis 22088905 cropped.png, Case of '' Limnephilus flavicornis'' made of snail shells

Fixed retreats

In contrast to larvae that have portable cases, members of the Annulipalpia have a completely different feeding strategy. They make fixed retreats in which they remain stationary, waiting for food to come to them. Members of the Psychomyiidae,

Ecnomidae The Ecnomidae are a family of caddisflies comprising 9 genera with a total of 375 species. Distribution The Ecinomidae have a Gondwanan distribution, except one genus, which also is present in Oriental and Palearctic regions. Morphology Th ...

and Xiphocentronidae families construct simple tubes of sand and other particles held together by silk and anchored to the bottom, and feed on the accumulations of silt formed when suspended material is deposited. The tube can be lengthened when the growing larva needs to feed in new areas. More complex tubes, short and flattened, are built by Polycentropodidae larvae in hollows in rocks or other submerged objects, sometimes with strands of silk suspended across the nearby surface. These larvae are carnivorous, resembling spiders in their feeding habits and rushing out of their retreat to attack any unwary small prey crawling across the surface.

Silk domes

Larvae of members of the family Glossosomatidae in the suborder Spicipalpia create dome-shaped enclosures of silk which enables them to graze on the periphyton, the biological film that grows on stones and other objects, while carrying their enclosure around like

turtle Turtles are an order of reptiles known as Testudines, characterized by a special shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Cryptodira (hidden necked t ...

s. In the family Philopotamidae, the nets are sac-like, with intricate structure and tiny mesh. The larvae have specialised mouthparts to scrape off the

microflora Microbiota are the range of microorganisms that may be commensal, symbiotic, or pathogenic found in and on all multicellular organisms, including plants. Microbiota include bacteria, archaea, protists, fungi, and viruses, and have been found to ...

that get trapped in the net as water flows through.

Nets

The larvae of other species of caddisfly make nets rather than cases. These are silken webs stretching between aquatic vegetation and over stones. These net-making larvae usually live in running water, different species occupying different habitats with varying water speeds. There is a constant drift of invertebrates washed downstream by the current, and these animals, and bits of debris, accumulate in the nets which serve both as food traps and as retreats.

Development and morphology

Caddisfly larvae are aquatic, with six pairs of tracheal gills on the underside of the abdomen. The eggs are laid above water on emergent twigs or vegetation or on the water surface although females of some species enter water to choose sites. Although most species lay eggs, a few in the genus ''Triplectides'' are ovoviviparous. Some species lay eggs on land and although most are associated with freshwater, a few like ''Symphitoneuria'' are found in coastal saline water. ''Philanisus plebeius'' females lay their eggs into the coelomic cavity of intertidal starfish. The larvae are long and roughly cylindrical, very similar to those of lepidoptera but lacking prolegs. In case-bearing species, the heads are heavily sclerotised while the abdomen is soft; the antennae are short and the mouthparts adapted for biting. Each of the usually ten abdominal segments bears a pair of legs with a single tarsal joint. In case-bearing species, the first segment bears three papillae, one above and two at the sides, which anchor the larva centrally in the tube. The posterior segment bears a pair of hooks for grappling. There are five to seven larval

instar An instar (, from the Latin '' īnstar'', "form", "likeness") is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, between each moult (''ecdysis''), until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to grow or ...

s, followed by an aquatic

pupa A pupa ( la, pupa, "doll"; plural: ''pupae'') is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in thei ...

which has functional mandibles (to cut through the case), gills, and swimming legs. The pupal cocoon is spun from silk, but like the larval case, often has other materials attached. When pupating, species that build portable cases attach them to some underwater object, seal the front and back apertures against predators while still allowing water to flow through, and pupate within it. Once fully developed, most pupal caddisflies cut through their cases with a special pair of mandibles, swim up to the water surface,

moult In biology, moulting (British English), or molting (American English), also known as sloughing, shedding, or in many invertebrates, ecdysis, is the manner in which an animal routinely casts off a part of its body (often, but not always, an outer ...

using the

exuviae In biology, exuviae are the remains of an exoskeleton and related structures that are left after ecdysozoans (including insects, crustaceans and arachnids) have moulted. The exuviae of an animal can be important to biologists as they can often b ...

as a floating platform, and emerge as fully formed adults. They can often fly immediately after breaking from their pupal cuticle. Emergence is mainly univoltine (once per year) with all the adults of a species emerging at the same time. Development is within a year in warm places, but takes over a year in high latitudes and at high elevation in mountain lakes and streams. The adult caddisfly is a medium-sized insect with membranous, hairy wings, which are held in a tent-wise fashion when the insect is at rest. The antennae are fairly long and threadlike, the mouthparts are reduced in size and the legs have five tarsi (lower leg joints). Adults are nocturnal and are attracted to light. Some species are strong fliers and can disperse to new localities, but many fly only weakly. Adults are usually short-lived, most being non-feeders and equipped only to breed. Once mated, the female caddisfly lays eggs in a gelatinous mass, attaching them above or below the water surface depending on species. The eggs hatch in a few weeks. File:GT Caddis Fly Egg Mass on leaf.jpg, Egg mass on leaf away from water File:CaddisPupaBMNH.jpg, Pupa with oar-like swimming legs File: Caddis pupae.JPG, Pupae File:Parachiona.picicornis.emerging.jpg, '' Parachiona picicornis'' adult emerging from aquatic pupa File:Daternomina male tagged.png, Adult

Relationship with humans

Silver Sedge, from Trout fly-fishing in America (6309074584)

In angling

Adult caddisflies are called sedges by anglers. Individual species emerge ''en masse'' at different times, and are used one after the other, often for only a few days each year, as models for artificial fishing flies for fly fishing in trout streams. A mass emergence is known as a hatch. Each type has its own angling name, so for example '' Mystacides'' is the dancer; '' Sericostoma'' the caperer; '' Leptocerus'' the silverhorn; ''

Phryganea ''Phryganea'' is a genus of giant casemakers in the family Phryganeidae. There are about 13 described species in the genus. The type species for Phryganea is ''Phryganea grandis ''Phryganea'' is a genus of giant casemakers in the fami ...

'' the murragh or great red sedge; '' Brachycentrus subnubilis'' the grannom; '' Lepidostoma'' the silver sedge; '' Oecetis'' the longhorn sedge; '' Cheumatopsyche'' the little sister sedge; ''

'' the speckled Peter, an important fishing fly in North America; and ''

'' the specked sedge, perhaps the most important caddisfly genus for anglers with over 50 species of net-makers.

As bioindicators

Caddisflies are useful as

s (of good water quality), since they are sensitive to

, and are large enough to be assessed conveniently in the field. Some species indicate undisturbed habitat, and some indicate degraded habitat. Although caddisflies may be found in waterbodies of varying qualities, species-rich caddisfly assemblages are generally thought to indicate clean water bodies, such as lakes, ponds, and

marsh A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found a ...

es. Together with stoneflies and mayflies, caddisflies feature importantly in bioassessment surveys of streams and other water bodies.

In art

While caddisflies in the wild construct their cases out of twigs, sand, aquatic plants, and rocks, the French artist

makes art by providing wild caddisflies with precious stones and other materials. He collected caddisfly larvae from the wild and put them in climate-controlled tanks. He removes the larvae from their original cases and adds precious and semi-precious items such as grains of gold into the tank. The larvae then build new cases out of precious items, creating a unique form of artwork. The resulting works are sold across the world.

As food

In Japan the caddisfly larvae is called ''Zazamushi'' and eaten as a delicacy."Zazamushi Silk" - Successful Discovery and Analysis of Novel Silk Protein Genes from caddisfly larvae
/ref>

Taxonomy

There are roughly 14,500 species in some 45 families worldwide. * Suborder

** Superfamily Hydropsychoidea *** Family Dipseudopsidae *** Family

*** Family † Electralbertidae *** Family Hydropsychidae *** Family Polycentropodidae *** Family Psychomyiidae *** Family Xiphocentronidae ** Superfamily Philopotamoidea *** Family Philopotamidae *** Family Stenopsychidae * Suborder

** Superfamily

Leptoceroidea Leptoceroidea is a superfamily of caddisflies The caddisflies, or order Trichoptera, are a group of insects with aquatic larvae and terrestrial adults. There are approximately 14,500 described species, most of which can be divided into the ...

*** Family Atriplectididae *** Family Calamoceratidae *** Family Molannidae *** Family Leptoceridae *** Family Limnocentropodidae *** Family Odontoceridae *** Family Philorheithridae ** Superfamily Limnephiloidea *** Family Apataniidae *** Family Brachycentridae *** Family Goeridae *** Family Limnephilidae *** Family Lepidostomatidae *** Family Oeconesidae *** Family Pisuliidae *** Family Rossianidae *** Family † Taymyrelectronidae *** Family Uenoidae ** Superfamily † Necrotaulioidea *** Family † Necrotauliidae ** Superfamily Phyrganeoidea *** Family † Baissoferidae *** Family † Dysoneuridae *** Family † Kalophryganeidae *** Family Phyrganeidae *** Family Phyrganopsychidae *** Family Plectrotarsidae ** Superfamily Sericostomatoidea *** Family Anomalopsychidae *** Family Antipodoeciidae *** Family Barbarochthonidae *** Family Beraeidae *** Family Calocidae *** Family Chathamiidae *** Family Conoesucidae *** Family Helicophidae *** Family Helicopsychidae *** Family Hydrosalpingidae *** Family Kokiriidae *** Family Petrothrincidae *** Family Sericostomatidae ** Superfamily Tasimioidea *** Family Tasimiidae ** Superfamily † Vitimotaulioidea *** Family † Vitimotauliidae *** Family † Cladochoristidae *** Family † Microptysmatidae *** Family † Prosepididontidae *** Family † Protomeropidae *** Family † Uraloptysmatidae * Suborder Spicipalpia ** Superfamily Hydroptiloidea *** Family Glossosomatidae *** Family Hydroptilidae *** Family Ptilocolepidae ** Superfamily Rhyacophiloidea *** Family Hydrobiosidae *** Family Rhyacophilidae

References

External links

- Videos of some very interesting caddisfly species in Arizona.
Caddisflies and Fly Fishing
- Photos, limited species life history descriptions.

— diagnostic photographs and information

Tree of Life Trichoptera page

Trichoptera world checklist

Artwork with caddis fly larvae and precious metals!
"An unusual artistic collaboration between the French artist Hubert Duprat and a group of caddis fly larvae."
Caddisfly larvae
The BioFresh Cabinet of Freshwater Curiosities. {{Authority control Extant Triassic first appearances Articles containing video clips Aquatic insects Amphiesmenoptera