Onocosmoecus (Great Late-Summer Sedge) Caddisfly Larva Pictures

See the forum discussion for discussion with a caddis expert (Dave Ruiter / Creno) about the identification of this specimen. I'm a bit perplexed because some gills seem to have more than 4 branches, which would lead in a different direction at Couplet 18 of the Key to Genera of Limnephilidae Larvae, but Dave knew his stuff a lot better than I did. He was convinced this is Onocosmoecus. The current range maps would put this in Onocosmoecus unicolor as the only option, but he believed there are probably multiple not-yet-distinguished species under that umbrella and suggested keeping this one's ID at the genus level for that reason.

This caddisfly was collected from the Chena River in Alaska on May 10th, 2008 and added to Troutnut.com by Troutnut on April 20th, 2011.

Discussions of this Larva

Start a Discussion of Larva