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Trichoptera: Rhyacophilidae

Introduction to the Rhyacophila Pictet 1834

Freeliving Caddisflies, Green Rock Worm, Green Caddis, Green Sedge, Medium wing, medium olive body caddis #16-20

Under construction :-) Updated 25 Oct 2009

Provisional Species List

  • Rhyacophila alberta Banks 1918 details
  • Rhyacophila angelita Banks 1911 details
  • Rhyacophila brunnea Banks 1911 details
  • Rhyacophila coloradensis Banks 1904 details
  • Rhyacophila harmstoni Ross 1944 details
  • Rhyacophila hyalinata Banks 1905 details
  • Rhyacophila pellisa Ross 1938 details
  • Rhyacophila valuma Milne 1936 details
  • Rhyacophila verrula Milne 1936 details

Good Links

On this website:
Rhyacophila acropedes
Rhyacophila tucula
Rhyacophila vocala
Rhyacophila vofixa
Rhyacophila in checklists from all over the world

Other Websites:

References

Allan, J.D. 1975. The distributional ecology and diversity of benthic insects in Cement Creek, Colorado. Ecology 56:1040-1053. Abstract
     Widely cited longitudinal survey of Cement Creek.

Allan,JD 1978 Diet of brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis Mitchell) and Brown Trout (Salmo trutta L.) in an alpine stream. Internationale Vereinigung für Theoretische und Angewandte Limnologie Verhandlungen 20, 2045-2050.

Allan,JD 1981 Determinants of diet of brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) in a mountain stream. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 38, 184-192.

Allan,JD 1987 Macroinvertebrate drift in a Rocky Mountain stream. Hydrobiologia 144, 261-268.
     Working in Cement Creek, Allan looked at aquatic insects drifting in the water column for 24 hour time periods during the summers of 1976 and 1977. On page 263, he briefly says "Trichoptera (mostly several species of Rhyacophila, but occasional Hydropsychidae and Brachycentrus americanus Banks) always exhibited very low drift densities."

Banks,N 1904 Neuropteroid insects from New Mexico. Transactions of American Entomological Society 32, 97-110.

Banks,N 1911 Descriptions of new species of North American Neuropterid Insects. Transactions of American Entomological Society 37, 335-360.

Buchwalter,DB; Cain,DJ; Clements,WH; Luoma,SN 2007 Using biodynamic models to reconcile differences between laboratory toxicity tests and field biomonitoring with aquatic insects. Environmental Science and Technology 41, 4821-4828.
     Abstract: "Aquatic insects often dominate lotic ecosystems, yet these organisms are under-represented in trace metal toxicity databases. Furthermore, toxicity data for aquatic insects do not appear to reflect their actual sensitivities to metals in nature, because the concentrations required to elicit toxicity in the laboratory are considerably higher than those found to impact insect communities in the field. New approaches are therefore needed to better understand how and why insects are differentially susceptible to metal exposures. Biodynamic modeling is a powerful tool for understanding interspecific differences in trace metal bioaccumulation. Because bioaccumulation alone does not necessarily correlate with toxicity, we combined biokinetic parameters associated with dissolved cadmium exposures with studies of the subcellular compartmentalization of accumulated Cd. This combination of physiological traits allowed us to make predictions of susceptibility differences to dissolved Cd in three aquatic insect taxa: Ephemerella excrucians, Rhithrogena morrisoni, and Rhyacophila sp. We compared these predictions with long-term field monitoring data and toxicity tests with closely related taxa: Ephemerella infrequens, Rhithrogena hageni, and Rhyacophila brunnea. Kinetic parameters allowed us to estimate steady-state concentrations, the time required to reach steady state, and the concentrations of Cd projected to be in potentially toxic compartments for different species. Species-specific physiological traits identified using biodynamic models provided a means for better understanding why toxicity assays with insects have failed to provide meaningful estimates for metal concentrations that would be expected to be protective in nature. "

Buchwalter,DB; Cain,DJ; Martin,CA; Xie,L; Luoma,SN; Garland,JT 2008 Aquatic insect ecophysiological traits reveal phylogenetically based differences in dissolved cadmium susceptibility. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105 24, 8321-8326.

Clements,WH; Carlisle,DN; Lazorchak,JM; Johnson,PC 2000 Heavy metals structure benthic communities in Colorado mountain streams. Ecological Applications 10(2)626-638. Abstract
     The authors discuss abundance of aquatic insects among a number of mine-polluted and clean streams and rivers in Colorado. Quote from page 633: "Rhyacophila sp.(Fig.5j) was the only caddisfly that showed a significant response to metal level and was lower at medium-metal sites. "

Denning, DG 1948 A review of the Rhyacophilidae. Canadian Entomologist 80:97-117.

DeWalt,RE; Stewart,KW; Moulton,SR; Kennedy,JH 1994 Summer emergence of mayflies, stoneflies, and caddisflies from a Colorado mountain stream. Southwestern Naturalist 39 3, 249-256.

Dodds GS; Hisaw FL. 1925. Ecological studies on aquatic insects. IV. Altitudinal range and zonation of mayflies, stoneflies and caddisflies in the Colorado Rockies. Ecology 6(4)380-390. Abstract

Etnier, D. E., C. R. Parker, and I. C. Stocks. 2004 A new species of Rhyacophila Pictet (Trichoptera: Rhyacophilidae) from Great Smoky Mountains National Park, with illustrations of females of R. appalachia Morse and Ross and R. mycta Ross. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington. 106(2): 396- 406.

Giersch, JJ 2002 Revision and phylogenetic anaysis of the verrula and alberta species groups of Rhyacophila Pictet 1834 with description of a new species (Trichoptera: Rhyacophilidae). Master of Science Thesis. Montana State University http://virgin.msu.montana.edu/Joe/

Kiffney,PM; Clements,WH 1993 Bioaccumulation of heavy metals by benthic invertebrates at the Arkansas River, Colorado. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 12, 1507-1517.
     Quote from page 1512: "Variation among taxa: Metal concentrations in organisms collected from station AR-5 [impacted by heavy metal pollution from California Gulch] (fall, spring, summer) varied significantly among taxa (Fig 7). The highest concentrations were generally found in the mayfly Baetis spp., the stonefly Pteronarcella badia, and the caddisfly Arctopsyche grandis, whereas the lowest levels were measured in the two predators, Skwala americana, and Rhyacophila spp."

Milne, L.J. 1936 Studies in North American Trichoptera. Part 3. Cambridge, Mass. : Author's publication. 128 pages

Nimmo, A 1971 The adult Rhyacophilidae and Limnephilidae (Trichoptera) of Alberta and eastern British Columbia and their post glacial origin. Quaestiones Entomologicae 73: 3-234.

Peck,DL; Smith,SD 1978 A revision of the Rhyacophila coloradensis complex (Trichoptera: Rhyacophilidae). Melanderia 27, 1-24.

Pictet, F. J. 1834. Recherches pour servir ˆ l'histoire et l'anatomie des Phryganides. A. Cherbuliez, Geneva.

Prather,AL; Morse,JC 2001 Eastern Nearctic Rhyacophila species, with revision of the Rhyacophila invaria group (Trichoptera:Rhyacophilidae). Transactions of American Entomological Society 127 1, 85-166. ERRATUM http://entweb.clemson.edu/research/rhyacophila.htm
     Has updated keys to Eastern United States (US) Rhyacophila Females, Males, Larvae. To find these keys, look at the bottom of the webpage.

Ross,HH 1950 New species of nearctic Rhyacophila (Trichoptera, Rhyacophilidae). Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences 40 8, 260-265.

Ross, HH 1956 Evolution and classification of the mountain caddisflies. University of Illinois Press, Urbana, 213 pages.
     Has keys, illustrations, discusses phylogeny and biogeography of Rhyacophila among other primative caddisflies.

Schmid, F. 1970 Le genre Rhyacophila et la famille des Rhyacophilidae (Trichoptera). Memoires de la Societe Entomologique du Canada 66:1-230.

Smith,SD 1968 The Rhyacophila of the Salmon river drainage of Idaho with special reference to larvae. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 61 3, 655-674.

Smith, S. D. 1976 A progress report on the phylogeny of Rhyacophila larvae. Pages 5-6 in Proceedings of the 1st International Symposium on Trichoptera (H. Malicky, ed.) Dr. W. Junk, The Hague.

Smith, S. D. 1984 Larvae of Nearctic Rhyacophila, part I: acropedes group. Aquatic Insects 6:37-40.

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) National Water Quality Assessment Data Warehouse (NAWQA) shows this genus is present in Gunnison County. Data as of 1Sep2005

Wichard,W; Caspers,N 1991 Caddisflies of Baltic amber - 2. Fossil species of the genus Rhyacophila. Pages 447-451 in Proceedings of the 6th International Symposium on Trichoptera (C. Tomaszewski, ed.) Adam Mickiewicz University Press, Poznan, Poland.

Wichard,W; Schmidt,HH; Wagner,R 1993 The semipermeability of the pupal cocoon of Rhyacophila (Trichoptera: Spicipalpia). Pages 25-27 in Proceedings of the 7th International Symposium on Trichoptera (C. Otto, ed.) Backhuys Publishers, Leiden, The Netherlands.

Wiggins, GB 1996 Larvae of the North American Caddisfly Genera (Trichoptera). 2nd Edition. University of Toronto Press, 457 pages.
     Quote from page 114: "Rhyacophila is the largest genus in the Trichoptera, with close to 500 species widely distributed through the Holarctic and Oriental regions."

Brown, Wendy S. 2004 Trichoptera or Caddisflies of Gunnison County, Colorado, USA
www.gunnisoninsects.org