Review of 2019 and 2020 - Caddisflies: Goeridae, Lepidostomidae and part 1 of Limnephilidae

Family GOERIDAE


Medium Sedge Goera pilosa - A total of 8 in the garden trap between 23rd June and 30th July 2019 and 11 between 17th June and 8th August 2020; also one at the meadows on 22nd August 2019.

male Medium Sedge Goera pilosa, North Elmham, 23rd June 2019

female Medium Sedges Goera pilosa, North Elmham, 10th July 2019

female Medium Sedge Goera pilosa, North Elmham, 24th July 2019

female Medium Sedge Goera pilosa, North Elmham, 17th June 2020

female Medium Sedge Goera pilosa, North Elmham, 20th June 2020

Silo nigricornis - None.  There are loads of records of this species in Norfolk so it is perhaps surprising that I haven't come across it yet.

Silo pallipes - Female in the garden trap on 10th July 2019 and 25th June 2020.  I'd caught this species twice before, both in 2017.

female Silo pallipes, North Elmham, 10th July 2019

female Silo pallipes, North Elmham, 25th June 2020

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Family LEPIDOSTOMATIDAE


Crunoecia irrorata - Singles caught in the garden on 21st July and 25th August 2019 and 18th and 31st July 2020.  Also a male netted between Carsaig and Rubha Dubh on Mull on 10th June 2019.

male Crunoecia irrorata, between Carsaig and Rubha Dubh (Mull), 10th June 2019

male Crunoecia irrorata, North Elmham, 21st July 2019

female Crunoecia irrorata, North Elmham, 25th August 2019

male Crunoecia irrorata, North Elmham, 18th July 2020 - showing distinctive genital capsule

female Crunoecia irrorata, North Elmham, 31st July 2020

Small Silver Sedge Lepidostoma hirtum - 3 caught in the garden on consecutive nights 27th to 29th August 2019 and 6 between 14th August and 8th September; elsewhere one at Swanton Great Wood on 27th August 2019 and 2 at the meadows on 8th September 2020.  All 12 were females and I didn't alwasys find it easy to eliminate Lepidostoma basale (although as far as I know that species doesn't occur in East Anglia).  The Barnard and Ross Handbook points to a single feature on its diagrams of the genitalia, the shape of the subgenital plate, and on at least a few individuals (especially the first one in 2020) this looked better for basale.  But there are other differences in the diagrams, although when they're not arrowed or drawn attention to in the text I'm never sure if these are differences between the species or just differences between the specimens used as a basis for the diagram.  Anyway, hirtum is illustrated with wide shoulders (not a technical term!) before the tip of the abdomen, and all mine shared this characteristic - the basale diagram in the Handbook shows much less of a step.  When I first encountered this problem I found a photo of hirtum genitalia online that looked similar (I can't find it now - maybe it was on the defunct website but I thought it was more recent than that), so given basale is so unlikely here I think it's safe to call them all hirtum.  Photos of the genitalia of the most troublesome individual are below, along with a more straightforward one.  Please let me know if you disagree.

female Small Silver Sedge Lepidostoma hirtum, Swanton Great Wood, 27th August 2019

female Small Silver Sedge Lepidostoma hirtum, North Elmham, 28th August 2019

female Small Silver Sedge Lepidostoma hirtum, North Elmham, 29th August 2019

presumed female Small Silver Sedge Lepidostoma hirtum, North Elmham, 14th August 2020 - showing what looks like a very flat rounded tip to the subgenital plate (as on L basale); this happened to be the first time I've found the corpus bursae on a caddisfly - the ductus bursae is very thin and delicate so I assume this normally breaks and gets lost during the preparation (as far as I know this isn't helpful for identification but was of interest to me

female Small Silver Sedge Lepidostoma hirtum, North Elmham, 24th August 2020 - this one shows a subgenital plate with a longer more narrowly rounded tip as I would expect on L hirtum

female Small Silver Sedge Lepidostoma hirtum, North Elmham, 30th August 2020

female Small Silver Sedge Lepidostoma hirtum, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 8th September 2020

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Family APATANIIDAE


Apatania muliebris - None.  Judging from the NBN Atlas maps this species occurs in the Wensum Valley but I've not come across it here or anywhere else yet.

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Family LIMNEPHILIDAE


Drusus annulatus - None.  The NBN Atlas maps indicate that this species has occurred nearby but I haven't found it yet.


Brown Sedge Anabolia nervosa - One caught in the garden on 22nd October 2019 and 4 between 21th and 21st October (I had caught 8 here in 2018).  Elsewhere 2 caught at the meadows on 12th October and 4 there on 1st November 2019 and 2 at Stiffkey on 16th October 2020.  The other member of this genus, Anabolia brevipennis, occurs in Norfolk but there are no records on the NBN Atlas for the Wensum Valley area.

male Brown Sedge Anabolia nervosa, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 12th October 2019

male Brown Sedge Anabolia nervosa, North Elmham, 21st October 2019

male Brown Sedge Anabolia nervosa, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 1st November 2019

Brown Sedge Anabolia nervosa, North Elmham, 12th October 2020<

Brown Sedge Anabolia nervosa, Stiffkey, 16th October 2020

Mottled Sedge Glyphotaelius pellucidus - A total of 56 between 1st May 31st October 2019 and 39 between 8th May and 29th October 2020.  A total of 22 at the meadows on 7 dates including 15 on 25th May 2020 and elsewhere singles at Swanton Great Wood, Row Heath (West Runton), Whitwell Street and Tresidder (in Cornwall).  My records of this species show two clear peaks, one from May to early June and one from late July to October (especially late August to late September) but I've had a few odd records throughout the diapause in June-July.

Mottled Sedge Glyphotaelius pellucidus, North Elmham, 1st May 2019

Mottled Sedge Glyphotaelius pellucidus, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 25th May 2019

Mottled Sedge Glyphotaelius pellucidus, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 15th May 2020

Grammotaulius nigropunctatus - Singles caught in the garden trap on 12th September 2019 and 11th and 23rd April 2020 (I'd had 3-4 in each of the previous 3 years).  Also one at Hills and Holes on 21st May 2020.  There are no records of the much scarcer Grammotaulius nitidus showing in the NBN Atlas for the Wensum Valley although it does occur in the Broads and has been recorded in the Norwich area.

male Grammotaulius nigropunctatus, North Elmham, 12th September 2019

male Grammotaulius nigropunctatus, Hills and Holes, 21st May 2020

Next page: more Limnephilidae

Or return to Caddisfly index

A new moth, a new waxfly, a new snail and three new flowers

Monday 30th April was a foul day, wet and windy all day.  I didn't venture out and, extremely unusually for me I didn't even open any windows.  Yet I did record a moth inside the house, my first Case-bearing Clothes Moth Tinea pellionella of the year.

Case-bearing Clothes Moth Tinea pellionella (female, gen det), North Elmham, 30th April

There were no moths in the trap that night and only 4 on 1st May, but these included my first Pointed Groundling Scrobipalpa acuminatella of the year, and Muslin Moth and 2 Hebrew Characters.

Pointed Groundling Scrobipalpa acuminatella (male, gen det), North Elmham, 1st May

Waxflies can be frustrating as so many of them turn out to be female Conwentzia sp., a duo that can't definitely be told from one another (although the number of antennal segments has been suggested as a character).  But they have reaped rewards and I've had two new species for Norfolk here so I always check them.  On this occasion it was just another Conwentzia, but for the first time this one was a male, so my first fully-identified Conwentzia psociformis.

Conwentzia psociformis (male, gen det), North Elmham, 1st May

I headed back to the Cathedral Meadows first thing on 2nd and added Common Oak Midget Phyllonorycter quercifoliella to the site moth list (one in each tetrad).

 Common Oak Midget Phyllonorycter quercifoliella, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 2nd May

I returned in the evening and found 3 Red-brindled Dwarfs Elachista rufocinerea flying around the meadows.

Red-brindled Dwarf Elachista rufochinerea, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 2nd May

As it turned dark I found my first macro moth for the site, a Water Carpet.  I also found Common Striped Woodlouse, Tree Slug and this snail which at the time I identified as Pelucid Glass Snail Vitrina pellucida.  I know realise this ID was incorrect, though I'm not entirely sure what it was (updated November 2019).

unidentified snail, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 2nd May

Common Striped Woodlouse Philoscia muscorum, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 2nd May

A couple of wildlfowers are species I hadn't previously identified, though I think they're both very common: Three-nerved Sandwort and Meadow Saxifrage.  A third new species was the naturalised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Three-nerved Sandwort, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 2nd May

Meadow Saxifrage, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 2nd May

Abraham, Isaac and Joseph, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 2nd May

Are these Sulphur Tufts?

Sulphur Tuft?, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 2nd May

The temperature was falling rapidly so it was no surprise to find few moths in the trap at home - just 3 Hebrew Characters in fact.

Next day the Large Red-belted Clearwing lure attracted the hoverfly Parasyrphus punctulatus, new for the year.

Parasyrphus punctulatus, North Elmham, 3rd May

That night saw Lesser Swallow Prominent and 2 Swallow Prominents, both new for the year, along with Early Thorn, Muslin Moth, Clouded Drab and Hebrew Character.

Lesser Swallow Prominent, North Elmham, 3rd May

Swallow Prominent, North Elmham, 3rd May

Lesser Swallow Prominent (left) and Swallow Prominent (right), North Elmham, 3rd May

This Mottled Sedge Glyphotaelius pellucidus was my first caddisfly of the year.

Mottled Sedge Glyphotaelius pellucidus, North Elmham, 3rd May