Review of 2019 and 2020 - Caddisflies: part 3 of Limnephilidae

Family LIMNEPHILIDAE (continued)



Limnephilus ignavus - One in my garden trap on 20th October 2019.  This was the third consecutive year I recorded one here but there was to be no repeat in 2020.

male Limnephilus ignavus, North Elmham, 20th October 2019

Limnephilus sparsus - A total of 14 caught in the garden between 26th August and 30th September 2019 and 10 between 21st May and 23rd October 2020, both less than half the number recorded here in 2018.  Also one at the meadows on 15th September 2019 and 2 there on 17th May 2020.  Elsewhere 1-2 at Hills and Holes, Whitwell Street, Penberth (Cornwall) and Tresidder (Cornwall).

male Limnephilus sparsus, North Elmham, 26th August 2019

male Limnephilus sparsus, North Elmham, 10th September 2019

Limnephilus sparsus, North Elmham, 25th September 2019

male Limnephilus sparsus, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 17th May 2020

male Limnephilus sparsus, North Elmham, 31st July 2020

male Limnephilus sparsus, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 21st August 2020

Limnephilus fuscicornis - None.  I've never found this species but are a few records in Norfolk so it's another one to keep an eye out for, although apparently it doesn't usually come to light so my chances might be quite low.


Limnephilus extricatus - a female in the garden moth trap on 16th May 2019 was my first ever.

female Limnephilus extricatus, North Elmham, 16th May 2019

Limnephilus centralis - None.  This is another one that I've not yet recorded.  It's quite widespread in east Norfolk but not many records in VC28 it seems.


Limnephilus hirsutus - Singles caught in the garden on 25th August 2019 and 22nd August 2020.  I've only caught this species on one other occasion - here in 2017.

male Limnephilus hirsutus, North Elmham, 25th August 2019 - showing side profile of the end of the abdomen

male Limnephilus hirsutus, North Elmham, 22nd August 2020 - showing side profile of the end of the abdomen

Limnephilus auricula - A total of 46 trapped here between 25th April and 16th November and 51 between 23rd April and 31st October 2020.  These totals compare with 103 in 2016 (when I wasnm't attempting to identify all of the caddisflies I caught) and 179 in 2018.  Although this species has two clear peaks, one in May and one in September-October, I have recorded it throughout the summer.  Elsewhere found at the meadows on 6 nights and 5 in Cornwall.

female Limnephilus auricula, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 22nd April 2019

male Limnephilus auricula, North Elmham, 23rd October 2019

male Limnephilus auricula, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 1st November 2019

male Limnephilus auricula, North Elmham, 23rd April 2020

Limnephilus vittatus - In spring 2019 one caught in the garden on 3rd June then in the normally-larger autumn generation 5 between 22nd September and 20th October.  I caught more than this in each of the previous 2 years but 2020 was worse - just singles on 14th September and 1st October.

male Limnephilus vittatus, North Elmham, 3rd June 2019

male Limnephilus vittatus, North Elmham, 22nd September 2019

male Limnephilus vittatus, North Elmham, 1st October 2020

Chaetopteryx villosa - None - judging from the number of records showing on the NBN Atlas this must be one of the commonest caddisflies that I haven't seen yet - there are even records at 2 sites between here and the neighbouring village of Hoe.


Micropterna lateralis - None but I've caught 3 of these here before (2 in 2018).  One Mictopterna sp. was caught on 3rd June 2019 but I lost it before I could confirm which species was involved.


Micropterna sequax - Males caught at the meadows on 31st May and 30th June 2019 but none at home that year.  One here in 2020, on 19th May, and I've caught this species at home previously (2 in 2017).

male Micropterna sequax, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 31st May 2019

male Micropterna sequax, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 30th June 2019

female Micropterna sequax, North Elmham, 19th May 2020

Stenophylax permistus - None.  I don't think either species of Stenophylax is very common in Norfolk but this one looks like it's the more plausible one to occur here.  (Update - it's plausibility is now confirmed - I caught one in my garden moth trap on 13th April 2021).


Potamophylax latipennis - None.  All 3 Potamophylax species occur in Norfolk (the others being cingulatus and rotundipennis) but this is the only one that appears to be common.  Not common enough for me to have ever encountered one though.


Halesus digitatus - None.  There are enough records of this species in Norfolk to make it worthwhile checking all my Halesus carefully for it, but so far they've all been the following species.


Halesus radiatus - 3 caught in the garden between 12th October and 13th November 2019 - a poor year considering that I had 15 here in 2018 but 2020 was a bit better with 8 between 15th October and 6th November.  Elsewhere 6 at Tresidder during my week in Cornwall in early October 2020.  Of the 17, 16 were males on which the genitalic features never quite look like the diagram in the Barnard and Ross Handbook but match the radiatus images that were on the trichoptera.insects-online.de website (the external appearance has also pointed to radiatus to a lesser or greater extent).

male Halesus radiatus, North Elmham, 12th October 2019

male Halesus radiatus, North Elmham, 18th October 2019

male Halesus radiatus, North Elmham, 13th November 2019

male Halesus radiatus, Tresidder (Cornwall), 7th October 2020

male Halesus radiatus, Tresidder (Cornwall), 8th October 2020 - showing abdomen partly cleared to make it easier to see the genitalic characters

male Halesus radiatus, North Elmham, 17th October 2020

male Halesus radiatus, North Elmham, 18th October 2020

male Halesus radiatus, North Elmham, 6th November 2020

Next page: Sericostomatidae plus

Or return to Caddisfly index

Southern Bell, the last new moth of the year

My last night moth-trapping before I went away for the first 3 weeks or so of November proved to be a good finale to the season.  The main highlight was a tortrix that I didn't immediately recognise.  It soon proved to be a Southern Bell Crocidosema plebejana, a relatively new arrival to Britain that has only been recorded in Norfolk about 5 times previously.  A lifer for me and my last new moth at home this year (bringing my garden moth list up to 786).

Southern Bell  Crocidosema plebejana (female, gen det), North Elmham, 31st October

I would miss the main flight period for December Moth (which, despite its name, is November) so it was good to get my first for the year in just before I went away.

December Moth, North Elmham, 31st October

I resumed trapping at home after an excellent trip to Oman on 21st November, catching a single Sprawler.  No moths the next night but a caddisfly: Limnephilus lunatus.  The following night there were 3 moths: a December Moth, a November Moth agg. and a Sprawler.  That was it until 2nd December when this Winter Moth turned up.

Winter Moth, North Elmham, 2nd December

Over the next few days there were 2 December Moths and 3 Winter Moths on 3rd, December Moth on 4th, 2 December Moths, Winter Moth and Mottled Umber on 5th and Mottled Umber on 6th.  Then there was another lull in activity broken only by single Mottled Umbers on 10th and 12th.

The lull ended on the night of 20th December when 3 species of moth and 1 caddisfly appeared, including my first ever December Pale Brindled Beauty.  This species normally appears in January and February but there are quite a few records in December - not here until now though.  The others were 2 Winter Moth, Mottled Umber and Limnephilus lunatus.

Pale Brindled Beauty, North Elmham, 20th December

Next day there was less variety but December Moth, a record count of 5 Mottled Umbers and my second record of Micropterna sequax (caddisfly).

Micropterna sequax (male), North Elmham, 21st December

The following night there was Light Brown Apple Moth Epiphyas postvittana, December Moth, Winter Moth and a Dark Chestnut.

Dark Chestnut, North Elmham, 22nd December

There were no moths the following night but a Minotaur Beetle in the bottom of the trap was my first here this year.

Minotaur Beetle, North Elmham, 23rd December

The year ended with Common Plume Emmelina monodactyla and Chestnut on 30th and a single Chestnut on New Year's Eve.

I ended up with a total of 578 species of moth in my garden in 2017 (291 micros, 287 macros) - quite a long way short of 2016 (when I recorded 627 species), confirming what we all knew, which was that it was quite a poor year.  If you take away the 7 species I only recorded in 2017 by using clearwing lures (which I didn't use in 2016) it was 56 species (9%) down on 2016.

Among the 578 were 66 that were new for the garden.  I only need another 14 needed to bring the garden list up to 800, surely within reach for 2018, before the end of my 4th year here maybe...?  I only had 60 new moths for Norfolk in 2017 - I don't have comparable data for previous years but this must be a long way down on any previous year since I started mothing seriously.  No surprise there of course - the more you see the harder it is to find new species (unless you go twitching moths which I have no plans to start doing).

It was a good year for me personally in getting to grips with other groups though.  In the garden I recorded 8 species of mayfly, 37 bugs (21 heteropteran & 16 homopteran), 2 barklice 15 lacewings, 48 beetles and 39 caddisflies.  Among them were two firsts for Norfolk, both Waxflies (which come under lacewings), Coniopteryx esbenpeterseni and Semidalis pseudouncinata.

One moth, two caddis and two bug lifers all in a night's work

This Dark-fringed Flat-body Agonopterix nervosa was one of several highlights on Thursday 17th August, a new species of moth for me.

Dark-fringed Flat-body Agonopterix nervosa (male, gen det), North Elmham, 17th August

I suspected that this peculiar-looking moth would turn out to be a Common Carpet despite it looking very different from the normal appearance of this species, and so it was - but I have never seen one looking anything like this before - has anyone else?  The dark band across the middle is very much narrower than normal and the outer darkish band is much broader than normal filling up the space.

Common Carpet (male, gen det), North Elmham, 17th August

This Six-striped Rustic was new for the year.

Six-striped Rustic, North Elmham, 17th August

The other moths were Brown Birch Slender Parornix betulae, Bird-cherry Ermine Yponomeuta evonymella, Dark Fruit-tree Tortrix Pandemis heparana, Light Brown Apple Moth Epiphyas postvittana, Dover Shade Cnephasia genitalana, Garden Rose Tortrix Acleris variegana, Common Marble Celypha lacunana, Garden Grass-veneer Chrysoteuchia culmella, 2 Pearl Veneers Agriphila straminella, 17 Common Grass-veneers Agriphila tristella, Elbow-stripe Grass-veneer Agriphila geniculea, Ringed China-mark Parapoynx stratiotata, 3 Garden Pebbles Evergestis forficalis, 2 Pale Straw Pearls Udea lutealis, 3 Mother of Pearls Pleuroptya ruralis, 2 Grey Knot-horns Acrobasis advenella, Beautiful Plume Amblyptilia acanthadactyla, Common Plume Emmelina monodactyla, Orange Swift, Maiden's Blush, Single-dotted Wave, Garden Carpet, another normal Common Carpet, Common Marbled Carpet, Currant Pug, 2 Brimstone Moths, 3 Willow Beauties, 3 Pale Prominents, 9 Flame Shoulders, 5 Large Yellow Underwings, 2 Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwings, 8 Setaceous Hebrew Characters, Bright-line Brown-eye, Common Wainscot, Straw Underwing, Flounced Rustic and 4 Straw Dots.

As if a new moth wasn't good enough there were also a few other insect lifers.   There were 8 caddisflies and all 8 were different species.  I've not been doing caddisflies for long but even so it already seems quite unusual to get a new species at home, so this haul was remarkable - two lifers Limnephilus hirsutus and Micropterna sequax and one new for the house Holocentropus picicornis.

Limnephilus hirsutus (female), North Elmham, 17th August

Micropterna sequax (male), North Elmham, 17th August

I'd had my first picicornis just 3 days earlier at Potter Heigham - if you read my diary entry for that excursion you may recall reading about it being the unspotted form rather than the usual spotted one - this time it was the typical form and very striking it was too.

Holocentropus picicornis (male), North Elmham, 17th August

The other 5 caddisflies were Hydropsyche pellucidula, Agrypnia pagetana, Crunoecia irrorata, Mottled Sedge Glyphotaelius pellucidus and Limnephilus lunatus.  Other insects included 5 species of bug including two lifers, the mirid bug Neolygus contaminatus and the water boatman Sigara dorsalis.  Now strictly speaking the Water Boatman could have been Sigara striata (there is a subtle difference in the genitalia but I couldn't resolve this one) but my understanding is that dorsalis is very common in Norfolk whereas striata is, or at least was, very much rarer.  Other bugs were 2 Forest Bugs and the leafhoppers Oncopsis subangulata and Empoasca vitis.

Neolygus contaminatus, North Elmham, 17th August

presumed Sigara dorsalis (male), North Elmham, 17th August

Oncopsis subangulata, North Elmham, 17th August

The rest of the insects I recorded were 5 Pond Olives Cloeon dipterum (mayflies), 2 Chrysoperla carnea (female agg. and male carnea) (green lacewings), Rhantus suturalis (water beetle) and Aphodius rufipes (dung beetle).  Also 2 Common Frogs watching proceedings, one from the lid of the trap.

A visit to Ryburgh the next day produced a Mouse Moth and a Common Nettle-tap Anthophila fabriciana. That night at home there were far fewer insects.  Square-spot Rustic was new for the year.

Square-spot Rustic, North Elmham, 18th August

The other moths were Beech Midget Phyllonorycter maestingella, Dark-triangle Button Acleris laterana, 2 Garden Rose Tortrixes Acleris variegana, Marbled Piercer Cydia splendana, 5 Common Grass-veneers Agriphila tristella, Single-dotted Wave, 2 Brimstone Moths, Poplar Hawk-moth, Pale Prominent, 2 Flame Shoulders, Large Yellow Underwing, Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing, Setaceous Hebrew Character, 3 Six-striped Rustics, 2 Common Wainscots, Burnished Brass and Snout.

There weren't many other insects either but two beetles were both new for the house: Eyed Ladybird and Cortinicara gibbosa (I wouldn't have identified the gibbosa in previous years but I think the ladybird was genuinely a good record here).

Eyed Ladybird, North Elmham, 18th August

Cortinicara gibbosa, North Elmham, 18th August