Catalog of the Neotropical Trichoptera (Caddisflies)

Description:

The Neotropics is a region of climatic and physiographic extremes, including among the world’s driest deserts and highest mountains, its largest river basin, vast expanses of tropical lowland rainforests and savannas, temperate forests, and sub- antarctic lands. The region’s long and complex geological history has resulted in the evolution of a hyperdiverse and highly endemic flora and fauna, including a rich and still very incompletely explored diversity of caddisflies, or Trichoptera, living in the region’s great variety of freshwater ecosystems. These insects are critical components of the energy flow and trophic dynamics of the rivers, streams, lakes, and other waterbodies in which they live as larvae and pupae. They are also important as biological indicators of the health and quality of freshwaters, as they are sensitive to most types of human-caused disturbance and pollution. More than 3,200 of the world’s approximately 15,000 caddisfly species occur in the region covered by this catalog (Mexico, the Caribbean, Central, and South America). For each of the 3,262 nominal species treated, information on the type locality, type depository, sex of type, distribution by country, and other pertinent taxonomic or biological information is included. Summary information on taxonomy, phylogeny, distribution, immature stages, and biology are provided for each of the 25 families and 156 genera. Genus-group and species-group synonyms are also listed. An extensive index to all nominal taxa is included to facilitate use of the catalog. This information was compiled from over 1,000 literature citations reviewed through 2015. It is hoped that this work will aid future study and exploration of this diverse order of insects so important to the function and health of the world’s precious freshwater habitats.