Caddisflies (Trichoptera)

There are now some excellent resources for caddisfly students, most recently the FSC guide "Adult Caddis (Trichoptera) of Britain and Ireland: a practical guide" by Ian Wallace and Sharon and Peter Flint (2022). This focuses primarily on identifying adult caddis using characters that are visible on live insects, but not does not deal with identification of those species which cannot be identified on external characters. For those, the RES Handbook "The adult Trichoptera (caddisflies) of Britain and Ireland" by Peter Barnard and Emma Ross (2012) remains the essential reference. Those looking for more could try to find an affordable copy of the Atlas of European Trichoptera by Hans Malicky, published by Springer in 2010 (second edition). This mostly contains diagrams of male genitalia, with only a selection of females included and in some cases other characters such as wing venation. Another really useful resource is the Trichoptera Fennoscandinavica website which has photos (or in some cases diagrams) of the abdomen tips of males and females. Used in conjunction with Barnard & Ross this can really help to clear things up when what you're looking at doesn't seem to quite match the diagrams in Barnard & Ross, both because the photos sometimes reflect what you're seeing better than Barnard & Ross's diagrams and because the website often gives other angles that aren't shown in Barnard & Ross.

Lots more to follow when I get round to doing these systemmatically, but for now just new things I'm seeing for the first time or learning something new.

Holocentropus dubius

Trichostegia minor

Limnephilus politus

Limnephilus bipunctatus

Ceraclea nigronervosa

Ceraclea senilis