Trichoptera sp. (order)

Unidentified Caddisfly at Molonglo River Reserve

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Identification history

Philanisus plebeius	20 Aug 2020	Alice
Trichoptera sp. (order)	20 Aug 2020	Alice
Trichoptera sp. (order)	20 Aug 2020	michaelb
Unidentified	18 Aug 2020	AlisonMilton

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User's notes

Does anyone know what this is? It's aquatic. In a tidal pool I found what looked like twigs moving along the bottom of the pool. I brought one home and cut it open. Instead of finding an expected shell fish or crab, I found this caterpillar-like creature with long craw-like legs around the head. I have the specimen at home if anyone wants to examine it.

5 comments

michaelb wrote:

19 Aug 2020

Edited to place in other insects.

AlisonMilton wrote:

19 Aug 2020

After some research I believe this is a Caddisfly larva

Alice wrote:

20 Aug 2020

So nice to see! This is a species of marine caddisfly (Trichoptera, Chathamniidae) that we have on the east coast. Both also occur in New Zealand and were described from there. If this came from near Bateman's Bay, it is probably Philanisus plebeius. The adult female is reported to lay its eggs in starfish, with the early young developing in the body cavity. I have collected larvae in Sydney Harbour that were identified by a New Zealand researcher as a second species. Next time you are at the coast, you might be able to find more in rock pools in their cases around or among some of the tufts of red coraline algae.

AlisonMilton wrote:

20 Aug 2020

Hi Alice, This was in a tidal pool next to the Molongo River near Butters Bridge, Denman Prospect, ACT. Sadly, I don't get to the coast very often.

Alice wrote:

21 Aug 2020

Hello Alison. So sad! When you wrote tidal pool, I thought immediately it was marine. The marine larvae look rather like leptocerid caddis larvae. So I expect that is what it is. It is not so easy to ID caddisflies from photos. Alice

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