Stenopsychidae
Karl KjerThis tree diagram shows the relationships between several groups of organisms.
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close boxIntroduction
This is a small family of large and rather remarkable caddisflies, some very brightly colored, whose larvae are found in elongate tubular nets attached to rocks in the strong currents of relatively pristine rivers. The family name was established by Martynov (1926), who included the 3 genera now recognized: Stenopsyche McLachlan (ca. 80 species, widespread in the eastern Palaearctic and Oriental regions, but with 1 Afrotropical species), Stenopspychodes Ulmer (9 species from Australia), and Pseudostenopsyche Döhler (3 species from southern Chile). The family was subsequently revised by Schmid (1969). (From Holzenthal et al. 2007a)Characteristics
Larvae of several species of Stenopsyche have been described and their biology is well known (Tanida 2002, provided a detailed account). The larva has a very elongate head and sclerotized labrum with membranous margins bearing dense fringes of short setae. The labrum, with its setal brush, is apparently used to groom the tubular nets, much as is the membranous labrum of philopotamids. The diet is said to be microphagous (Lepneva 1970), but larvae of other species feed on insects as well as organic material (Tanida 2002). Larvae of Pseudostenopsyche and Stenopsyche have not been described. The adults have prominent wing patterns, often with black and golden hairs, and in some species the mouthparts are extended and the mandibles are prominent (Schmid 1969). (From Holzenthal et al. 2007a)Discussion of Phylogenetic Relationships
Frania and Wiggins (1997) found Stenopsychidae to be the sister taxon to Philopotamidae; a relationship corroborated by molecular and combined datasets (Kjer et al., 2001, Holzenthal et al., 2007b). Stenopsychodes was originally placed in Polycentropodidae, mostly because adults lack ocelli. It is now placed in its own subfamily, Stenopsychodinae. Relationships among the 3 genera have not been resolved and Pseudostenopsyche is placed in Stenopsychodinae largely because of its plesiomorphic retention of ocelli. (From Holzenthal et al. 2007a)References
Frania, H.E. & Wiggins, G.B. (1997) Analysis of morphological and behavioural evidence for the phylogeny and higher classification of Trichoptera (Insecta). Life Sciences Contributions, Royal Ontario Museum, 160, 1–67.
Holzenthal R.W., Blahnik, R.J., Prather, A.L., and Kjer K.M. 2007a. Order Trichoptera Kirby 1813 (Insecta), Caddisflies. In: Zhang, Z.-Q., and Shear, W.A. (Eds). 2007 Linneaus Tercentenary: Progress in Invertebrate Taxonomy. Zootaxa. 58 pp. 1668:639-698
Holzenthal R.W., Blahnik, R.J., Kjer K.M and Prather, A.L. 2007b. An update on the phylogeny of Caddisflies (Trichoptera). Proceedings of the XIIth International Symposium on Trichoptera. Bueno-Soria, R. Barba-Alvearz and B. Armitage (Eds). pp. 143-153. The Caddis Press.
Martynov, A.V. (1926) On the family Stenopsychidae Mart. with a revision of the genus Stenopsyche Mc Lachl. (Trichopt.). EOS-Revista Española Entomologia, 2, 281–308.
Schmid, F. (1969) La famille des stenopsychides (Trichoptera). Canadian Entomologist, 101, 187–224.
Tanida, K. (2002) Stenopsyche (Trichoptera, Stenopsychidae): ecology and biology of a prominent Asian caddisfly genus. Nova Supplementa Entomologica (Proceedings of the 10th International Symposium on Trichoptera), 15, 595–606.
About This Page
Karl Kjer
Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA
Correspondence regarding this page should be directed to Karl Kjer at
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Page: Tree of Life Stenopsychidae. Authored by Karl Kjer. The TEXT of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 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.
- First online 20 July 2010
- Content changed 20 July 2010
Citing this page:
Kjer, Karl. 2010. Stenopsychidae. Version 20 July 2010 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Stenopsychidae/14567/2010.07.20 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/