Insects · Trichoptera · Phryganeidae

Great Red Sedge

Phryganea grandis

Not Evaluated

It has not yet been assessed against the IUCN criteria. See full glossary

A caddisfly with two pairs of hair-covered wings, folded roof-wise over the body at rest. Its larva is aquatic and lives inside a tubular case that it builds itself from silk, sticking grains of sand and plant fragments to it, and breathes through filamentous gills.

Size

up to 2.8 cm

Lifespan

1 years

Diet

Carnivore

Feeds mainly on other animals.

Activity

Nocturnal

Active mainly at night.

Social structure

Solitary

Lives and hunts alone, joining others only to breed.

Sighting difficulty

Unknown

FreshwaterCarnivore Nocturnal Solitary Insect Freshwater

45countries 139parks

Fun facts

Caddisflies are the only group of aquatic insects to have made silk a central part of their way of life, and that innovation explains why they are the most species-rich order of aquatic insects: some 14,500 described in 45 families.
Each larva builds its own portable case from silk and material off the bottom, and drags it along as it feeds.
They are related to the Lepidoptera: butterflies and caddisflies share a common ancestor.
It is the largest caddisfly in the British Isles; the female, larger than the male, has a dark band on the forewing that he lacks.
The larva builds itself a portable cylindrical case from plant fragments arranged in a spiral and glued with waterproof silk produced by a gland in its lower lip.
The cases of its family reach 30 mm, among the largest of any caddisfly.
It has a single generation a year and lives less than twelve months.

Life cycle & biology

Skeleton type: Invertebrate - chitin exoskeleton (insect)
Habitat & environment: Fresh water with vegetation, where the larva builds its case. The adults are entirely terrestrial and nocturnal in habit

Sources consulted: Wikipedia (Trichoptera); Picture Insect; Fauna Europaea