Brachycentridae
Ralph W. Holzenthal, Roger J. Blahnik, Aysha Prather, and Karl Kjer
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close boxIntroduction
This is a Northern Hemisphere family found in both the Old and New Worlds. Ulmer (1903) originally established this group as a subfamily of Sericostomatidae. It now contains 6 genera and a little over 100 species. Three of these genera are monotypic: Adicrophleps Flint (Nearctic), Amiocentrus Ross (Nearctic), and Dolichocentrus Martynov (southeastern Siberia). Eobrachycentrus Wiggins (Japan and western North America) contains only half a dozen species. Brachycentrus Curtis (ca. 30 species) and Micrasema McLachlan (ca. 75 species) are both widespread across the Holarctic and Oriental regions. Larvae construct cases from plant or rock materials, and some species use silk alone for part of the case. Several genera build 4-sided cases. The family is ecologically diverse. They inhabit running waters, but may be found in slow-flowing marshy channels. Some genera feed on aquatic moss; others are filter-feeders. Larvae of some Brachycentridae have rows of hairs on the middle and hind legs used for filtering food particles from currents. Some North American species of Brachycentrus can be found in thermal streams with temperatures as high as 34°C that smell strongly of hydrogen sulfide (Wiggins 2004). (From Holzenthal et al., 2007)
References
Holzenthal et al., 2007 R.W. Holzenthal, R.J. Blahnik, A.L. Prather and K.M. Kjer, Order Trichoptera Kirby, 1813 (Insecta), caddisfles, Zootaxa 1668 (2007), pp. 639–698.
Ulmer, G. (1903) Ueber die Metamorphose der Trichopteren. Abhandlungen des Naturwissenschaftlichen vereins in Hamburg, 18, 1–154.
Wiggins, G.B. (2004) Caddisflies: the underwater architects. University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 292 pp.
Title Illustrations
| Scientific Name | Micrasema burksi |
|---|---|
| Specimen Condition | Dead Specimen |
| Sex | Male |
| Life Cycle Stage | Adult |
| View | Lateral |
| Source Collection | Barcode of Life Database (BOLD) |
| Scientific Name | Brachycentrus sp. |
|---|---|
| Specimen Condition | Dead Specimen |
| Life Cycle Stage | Adult |
| View | Lateral |
| Source Collection | Barcode of Life Database (BOLD) |
About This Page
Ralph W. Holzenthal
University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA
Roger J. Blahnik
University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA
Aysha Prather
Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Biology, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Karl Kjer
Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA
Correspondence regarding this page should be directed to Ralph W. Holzenthal at , Roger J. Blahnik at , Aysha Prather at , and Karl Kjer at
Page copyright © 2010 Ralph W. Holzenthal, Roger J. Blahnik, Aysha Prather, and Karl Kjer
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Brachycentridae.
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- First online 17 July 2010
- Content changed 20 July 2010
Citing this page:
Holzenthal, Ralph W., Roger J. Blahnik, Aysha Prather, and Karl Kjer. 2010. Brachycentridae. Version 20 July 2010 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Brachycentridae/14606/2010.07.20 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/
