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3. Caddisfly

This caddisfly came to a UV light which I set up next to a man-made stream in a city park in Brooklyn, NY. I think it's about 9.5 mm.

It appears to be a leptocerid but I don't recognize the color pattern. Perhaps the eastern folks will be familiar with the pattern. Given the habitat and a little that I think I see from the wing this may be Oecetis.

Thanks. I figured it was a leptocerid. Tom Murray has a couple shots on Bugguide of what appears to be in the same genus.

Not sure if it helps, but I added a couple blow ups. What would you be looking for in the wings to help with the ID?

Guys,
Leptoceridae...........

1. L.ceraclea (scaly wing sedge)
wing..... color varies from light brown to dark brown, or from light gray to almost black. On many species the wings have 'patches of white hairs and/or pockets of white scales'.

2. L.oecetis (long horned sedge)
wing..... varies from straw yellow to brown
** antenna.... may be extremely long

I would guess this is L.ceraclea based on the 'white hairs ' on the scaly wings!
Ref: Caddisflies, Lafontaine, pg.253

Nanz - I am looking for the shape of the apical m vein. It is not forked in Oecetis and can be fairly obvious.

As Quillgordon says, Ceraclea usually has very hairy wings. The hairs in your photo have nearly obscured the m vein apex but I "think" it looks straight at the apex. It is just not clear enough to be sure.

I wandered through what I could find of the "leptocerids" on BugGuide and didn't see anything I would say was the same as yours, but there are a couple of other Ceraclea with the obvious white scale hairs. And, I did see what looks like a really neat, and very very rare Limnephilid. It will be good to try and track that down.

Thank you both very much.

I increased the resolution of the second image in hopes it would show "the shape of the apical m vein" but I am not hopeful given how hairy it is. Slightly above and to the right of the center there is a dark "M" shape. The right side of the "M" looks like a branch. I don't suppose that's what you are referring to, is it?

I also am adding one more view.

The images on Bugguide, I was talking about, can be found at http://bugguide.net/node/view/115037/bgimage and http://bugguide.net/node/view/143406/bgimage.

I'm sure any help you could give to the folks at Bugguide would be immensely appreciated.

looks like it might be Oecetis cinerascens to me but there are few Oecetis I've never seen.

Nanz, great pics. Flip those boogers over and snap a shot of their naughty bits!

I knew it would get dirty with you bug guys eventually; it always does. If you do flip it over, Roger will be sure to get out his little red arrows to show us what's what. In all seriousness, great photos. --And, I'm in awe of anyone who can even begin to id caddisflies.

Louis-



I highly resemble that remark.

Very nice photos Nanz!