Caddisfly Species Leucotrichia pictipes (Ring Horn Microcaddis)
Taxonomic Navigation -?-
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
» Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
» Class Insecta (Insects)
» Order Trichoptera (Caddisflies)
» Family Hydroptilidae (Microcaddisflies)
» Genus Leucotrichia (Ring Horn Microcaddisflies)
» Species pictipes (Ring Horn Microcaddis)
Common Names
| Match | Common Name |
 | Ring Horn Microcaddis |
 | Microcaddis |
Where & When
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 Behavior
Time Of Day (?): Any timeEgg-Laying Behavior
LaFontaine 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 Biology
Current Speed: Fast2 Underwater Pictures of Leucotrichia pictipes Caddisflies:
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The white blotches on this rock are Leucotrichia caddisfly cases, and the wispy tubes are cases made by a type of midge.
In this picture: Caddisfly Species Leucotrichia pictipes (Ring Horn Microcaddis), Mayfly Species Ephemerella invaria (Sulphur), and True Fly Family Chironomidae (Midges).
In this picture: Caddisfly Species Leucotrichia pictipes (Ring Horn Microcaddis), Mayfly Species Ephemerella invaria (Sulphur), and True Fly Family Chironomidae (Midges).
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).
In this picture: Caddisfly Species Leucotrichia pictipes (Ring Horn Microcaddis).
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