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Brachycentridae

Ralph W. Holzenthal, Roger J. Blahnik, Aysha Prather, and Karl Kjer
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taxon links [down<--]Plenitentoria Interpreting the tree
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Containing group: Plenitentoria

Introduction

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
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
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Scientific Name Micrasema burksi
Specimen Condition Dead Specimen
Sex Male
Life Cycle Stage Adult
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Source Collection Barcode of Life Database (BOLD)
Scientific Name Brachycentrus sp.
Specimen Condition Dead Specimen
Life Cycle Stage Adult
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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: Tree of Life Brachycentridae. Authored by Ralph W. Holzenthal, Roger J. Blahnik, Aysha Prather, and Karl Kjer. The TEXT of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License - Version 3.0. Note that images and other media featured on this page are each governed by their own license, and they may or may not be available for reuse. Click on an image or a media link to access the media data window, which provides the relevant licensing information. For the general terms and conditions of ToL material reuse and redistribution, please see the Tree of Life Copyright Policies.

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/

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