» Species pictipes (Ring Horn Microcaddis)
Common Names
Where & WhenRegions: East, Midwest, West
Time Of Year (?): Late spring and summer
This species is abundant across the northern United States. It can be extremely abundant -- Gary LaFontaine tells in Caddisflies of a population estimate putting this species at 5,000 per square foot in parts of the Madison River. If have found it very abundant in the Midwest as well, though probably not quite to that extreme. You can see this in my underwater photos.Hatching BehaviorTime Of Day (?): Any time
Egg-Laying BehaviorLaFontaine describes the unique egg-laying behavior of this species in Caddisflies:
[W]hen the females return to lay their eggs and crawl down the backside of the rocks, so many slip into the currents that trout stack up behind midstream obstructions.
Larva & Pupa BiologyCurrent Speed: Fast
2 Underwater Pictures of Leucotrichia pictipes Caddisflies:
There's a stonefly nymph in the bottom right corner of this picture, but what's really interesting is those white blotches. They're pretty common in my Wisconsin home river river, stuck flat onto the rocks--lots of rocks have a speckled look as a result. They are microcaddis cases, made by larvae of the caddisfly family
Hydroptilidae. These are made by larvae of the subfamily Leucotrichiinae, most likely the genus
Leucotrichia. They spin little flat oval cases of silk tight and immobile against the rocks.
In this picture: Caddisfly Species Leucotrichia pictipes (Ring Horn Microcaddis). Your Thoughts On Leucotrichia pictipes:
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