Family ECNOMIDAE

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Introduction

Mostly small caddis-flies (wing span 6–18 mm), with dull greyish-brown mottled wings.

Lepneva (1956) analysed the Psychomyiinae-Ecnominae-Polycentropinae complex and concluded that these three groups each represent a separate family. This classification has been followed by most authors. Neboiss (1983) noted that no Australian genera belong to the Psychomyiidae s. str. However, he later re-established Psychomyiidae in Australia (Neboiss 1990) for the genera Tinodes Curtis and Zelandoptila Tillyard.

Ecnomidae occur in all faunal regions except the Nearctic. A total of eight genera and more than 100 species are known; of these, three genera (see Neboiss 2003) and 94 species are recorded from Australia, 34 of these described by Cartwright (1990) in his revision of Ecnomus McLachlan, and another 35 in a revision of Ecnomina and Dateronomina Neboiss (Cartwright 2008). Dateronomina is an Australian endemic, and 'one species of Ecnomina has been recorded from each of New Zealand and New Caledonia' (Cartwright 2008).

Dean & Bunn (1989) published descriptions of unidentified Ecnomus and Ecnomina species from south-western Australia. Cartwright (1997) provided a guide to late instar ecnomid larvae. Cartwright (2011: 18) includes a key to ecnomid genera that occur in Australasia and the South-West Pacific Regions.

 

Diagnosis

Adult: ocelli absent. Maxillary palpi 5-segmented in both sexes; segment 2 longer than segment 1 and about as long as segment 3, apical segment flexible. Antennae at the most as long as the forewing. Mesoscutum and scutellum each with a pair of rounded setal warts. Wings narrow, rounded apically; forewing R usually forked at apex; discoidal and median cells present and closed. Abdominal sternite 5 without lateral filament; female abdomen terminates either bluntly or with an elongate ovipositor.

Tibial spurs 2: 4: 4 or 3: 4: 4.

Larva: all three thoracic nota covered with sclerites; pronotal sclerite extended posteroventrally; fore trochantin elongate, acute apically; abdomen without gills; lateral fringe present; anal prolegs long, claws curved, narrow, with a ventral comb of minute spinules along the concave margin. Larvae construct fixed tubes of silk, incorporating particles of plant and mineral origin; they feed upon organic particles. Habitat in lentic and lotic waters.

 

General References

Cartwright, D.I. 1990. The Australian species of Ecnomus McLachlan (Trichoptera: Ecnomidae). Memoirs of Museum Victoria 51: 1-48

Cartwright, D.I. 1997. Preliminary Guide to the Identification of Late Instar Larvae of Australian Ecnomidae, Philopotamidae and Tasimiidae (Insecta: Trichoptera). Identification Guide No. 10. Co-operative Research Centre for Freshwater Ecology, Albury. 33 pp.

Cartwright, D.I. 2008. A review of the Australian species of Ecnomina Kimmins and Daternomina Neboiss (Trichoptera: Ecnomidae). Zootaxa 1774: 1-76

Cartwright, D.I. 2009. Austrotinodes Schmid, a South and Central American caddisfly genus, newly recorded in Australia, with descriptions of new species. Zootaxa 2142: 1-19

Cartwright, D.I. 2010. Descriptions of 2 new genera and 13 new species of caddisflies from Australia (Trichoptera: Ecnomidae). Zootaxa 2415: 1-21

Cartwright, D.I. 2011. Descriptions of Neboissomina, new genus and 6 new species of Ecnomidae from Australia (Trichoptera). Zootaxa 2736: 17-30 [18] (key to genera of Ecnomidae in Australian and South-West Pacific Regions)

Cartwright, D.I. & Dean, J.C. 1982. A key to the Victorian genera of free-living and retreat-making caddis-fly larvae (Insecta: Trichoptera). Memoirs of the National Museum of Victoria, Melbourne 43: 1-13 [Date published 8 Oct. 1982]

Dean, J.C. & Bunn, S.E. 1989. Larval descriptions of the Hydrobiosidae, Philopotamidae, Hydropsychidae and some Ecnomidae (Trichoptera) from south-western Australia, with notes on biology. Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 40: 631-643

Lepneva, S.G. 1956. Morphological relationships of the subfamilies Psychomyiinae, Ecnominae and Polycentropinae (Trichoptera: Annulipalpia) in the preimaginal stages. Revue d'Entomologie de l'USSR Entomol. Obozreni 35: 8-27

Mosely, M.E. & Kimmins, D.E. 1953. The Trichoptera (Caddis-flies) of Australia and New Zealand. London : British Museum (Natural History) 550 pp. [Date published 6 Feb. 1953]

Neboiss, A. 1977. A taxonomic and zoogeographic study of Tasmanian caddis-flies (Insecta: Trichoptera). Memoirs of the National Museum of Victoria, Melbourne 38: 1-208 [Date published 4 Apr. 1977]

Neboiss, A. 1983. Checklist and Bibliography of the Australian Caddis-flies (Trichoptera). Caulfield East : Australian Society for Limnology Special Publication Vol. 5 132 pp. [Date published Feb. 1983]

Neboiss, A. 1990. The family Psychomyiidae (Trichoptera) re-established in Australia. Memoirs of Museum Victoria 51: 83-86

Neboiss, A. 2003. New genera and species, and new records, of Tasmanian Trichoptera (Insecta). Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania 136: 43-82 [dated 2002]

Ulmer, G. 1951. Köcherfliegen (Trichopteren) von den Sunda-Inseln (Teil 1). Archiv für Hydrobiologie Supplement 19: 1-528

Wiggins, G.B. 1982. Trichoptera. pp. 599-612 in Parker, S.P. (ed.). Synopsis and Classification of Living Organisms. New York : McGraw-Hill Vol. 2.

 

History of changes

Published	As part of group	Action Date	Action Type	Compiler(s)
05-Jun-2019	TRICHOPTERA	21-May-2019	MODIFIED
11-Oct-2012		11-Oct-2012	MOVED
11-Oct-2012		11-Oct-2012	MODIFIED
01-Nov-2011		01-Nov-2011	MODIFIED
13-Jan-2011		06-Mar-2011	MODIFIED
26-Jul-2010		26-Jul-2010	MODIFIED
		12-Feb-2010	(import)