#leptoceridae

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[drhoz]

#1983 - Triplectides sp - Stick Caddisfly

The last NZ species I’ll be covering until the end of the year when I go over there myself and find more.

photo by @purrdence

Apart from 3 Baltic Amber fossils, the genus is found in Asia from India to Japan; in Indonesia, Papua-New Guinea, all of Australia; on South Pacific Islands including New Hebrides, New Caledonia, and obviously New Zealand; and in South and Central America. Aoteoroa has 5 species, but I don’t know which this one is.

The many species of Triplectides breed in most kinds of watercourse, including cold and warm, unpolluted to moderately polluted, permanent and temporary lakes, ponds, rivers and creeks.  The genus is ubiquitous in Australian waterways, including temporary habitats in the central deserts, and is often the most common caddisfly genus encountered in benthic surveys.

The larvae construct mobile cases usually out of plant matter, but occasionally stones or the cases of other caddisflies. The plant cases can be a hollowed length of stick, or a tubular collection of plant fragments. Their hind legs have dark bands between the leg joints.

These Caddis are shredders, chewing up plant matter. 

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Bug of the Day

Tough to crop the photo when the darned antennae are longer than the body :-)

(long-horned caddisfly, Leptoceridae family)

[hisj]

_Mystacides azureus_ #Leptoceridae #caddisfly #アオヒゲナガトビケラ #ヒゲナガトビケラ 小顎脚が立派で脚よりも太い。水際のイタドリで見つけた。今回は水際というのが重要なポイント。 (三ツ寺公園)

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[drhoz]

#2708 - Hudsonema sp.

One of two species in the genus, endemic to Aotearoa.

The larvae are common in gravelly, stony, or muddy streams, preferring good water quality. Both species build long narrow cases - Hudsonema alienum attachs rectangular plant fragments in neat spirals along the case, and the stripy-legged Hudsonema amabile uses sand grains.

It's not sure whether they're predators or herbivores - they might be both.

Queenstown, Aotearoa New Zealand