Caddisfly Genus Pycnopsyche (Great Autumn Brown Sedges)

Their life cycle is completely synchronized with this food source -- the eggs hatch in the fall, just as the deciduous trees are shedding their foliage; the larvae feed and grow throughout the winter and spring, until early summer when the high water flushes away the accumulations of decaying leaves; the larvae enter diapause (Diapause: A state of complete dormancy deeper even than hibernation. While in diapause, an organism does not move around, eat, or even grow. Some caddisfly larvae enter diapause for a few weeks to several months. Some species of microscopic zooplankton can enter diapause for several hundred years.), a quiescent period, sealing off their cases, once their food source is diminished; they remain in this inactive state until they pupate in late summer; emergence, mating, and egg laying occurs in early fall, producing a new generation in time for the next input of leaves.