Montana Field Guide

Trichoptera is the largest order of insects that is entirely aquatic, with over 12,600 species worldwide (de Moor and Ivanov 2008). Caddisflies are most closely related to Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), and they share characteristics such as spinning silk. Rhyacophilids make up one of the largest genera of Trichoptera and are some of the most primitive caddisflies.

Caddisflies spend most of their life in the water as aquatic larvae and most species build portable, protective cases made from plant material or stones. Most caddisflies either filter small particles from the water by building nets spun from silk or shredded organic matter (e.g., leaves) into smaller pieces. The genus Rhyacophila is a unique group because they do not build portable cases and are mainly predators. Not all Rhyacophila have gills; those lacking gills absorb oxygen through their skin and thus require cold, oxygen-rich, fast-flowing water to breathe.

Caddisflies typically have five larval instars before pupation. Despite larvae being free-living, Rhyacophila construct a shelter of small stones tied together with silk for pupation, and the pupa uses its mandibles to break through the case and emerge (Anderson 1976). Adults can live anywhere from a few days to several weeks.

Adult caddisflies are medium-sized insects with tent-shaped wings. They resemble moths, but caddisflies do not have a coiled proboscis and their wings are covered in hairs rather than scales. They tend to be secretive and slow-flying riparian insects (Anderson 1976). Rhyacophila usually inhabit cool mountain streams and have small distributions, often restricted to only one or two mountain ranges (Anderson 1976).

Rhyacophila betteni is part of the Rhyacophila betteni group, one of the most diverse groups of Rhyacophila in North America. Many species in this group are endemic to California.

Larval Rhyacophila betteni is about 12-20mm long in their final instar (Giersch and Wisseman 2012). The larvae of the betteni group have elongated maxillary palps ten times longer than the width of the second segment. The head is long and depressed – approaching 1.5 times as long as wide – and usually light brown or amber colored without muscle scars. Its right mandible is short and triangular with two small apical teeth and a bilobed mesal tooth. Its left mandible is also short and triangular but has one apical tooth and an irregular mesal margin. This Rhyacophila species does not have gills.

The larvae of the betteni group closely resemble the R. ecosa and Alexander’s Rhyacophilan Caddisfly (R. alexanderi) groups of Rhyacophila. These groups also have long maxillary palps that are ten times longer than the width of the second segment. The distinctive characteristic of the ecosa group is the presence of three apical teeth on the right mandible. R. alexanderi is the only species in the alexanderi group, and its head is slightly shorter than the head of the betteni group larvae. The head is narrowed anteriorly, and the length and width are approximately equal. Nonetheless, further molecular and morphological data should be gathered on the alexanderi and betteni groups to determine if R. alexanderi is indeed a distinct species group.

Adults of R. betteni have not been described.

The Rhyacophila betteni group is one of the most frequently encountered Rhyacophila taxa in benthic stream samples from the montane west (Giersch and Wisseman 2012). Rhyacophila betteni larvae live in a wide range of elevations, water temperatures, and watershed size, but usually can be found on rocky substrates of erosional habitats (Giersch and Wisseman 2012). More sensitive taxa (mayflies, caddisflies, and stoneflies) are usually found in areas with less deposited sediment, while the abundance of tolerant taxa (fingernail clams, scuds, and non-biting midges) increases with the percent of fine sediment in the stream (Waters 1995, Cole et al. 2003).

When timber harvest and forest regeneration is concerned, many studies have found that macroinvertebrate densities decrease as forest stand age increases. However, these young stands exhibit higher dominance by just a few taxa that are tolerant to disturbance (clams, scuds, and non-biting midges) due to increased solar radiation increasing primary production (Cole et al. 2003). Older stands show lower dominance of tolerant taxa likely because stream conditions are more stable, thus allowing the abundance of sensitive taxa like caddisflies to increase.

Larval Rhyacophilids are predaceous, but their feeding patterns change as they grow. Larvae in early instars tend to have a diet dominated by moss, diatoms, and detritus, but then eat more animal material after the third instar. Later instars of Rhyacophila mainly eat Chironomidae (non-biting midge) and other small fly larvae, Ephemeroptera (mayfly), Plecoptera (stonefly), other Trichopterans, Copepoda (crustacean), Acari (water mite), and even fish eggs (Thut 1969, Dudgeon and Richardson 1988). Rather than engulfing their prey whole, larval Rhyacophila only consume the soft parts of their prey, discarding tougher structures like legs and head capsules (Giersch 2002).

Little is known about the diet of adult Rhyacophila, but other adult caddisflies do not have developed mouthparts and only eat nectar or sap from plants during their short time as an adult.

Rhyacophila species are often sympatric, with several species occurring together at one site (Giersch 2002).

The lifecycle of R. betteni has not been studied. Most caddisflies have a one-year life cycle, though some species reproduce more than once per year and others require two years to fully develop. Some species that are univoltine in lower elevation temperate streams may be semivoltine (more than one year) at higher latitudes or elevations where the growing season is too short for larvae to complete development in one year (Giersch 2002). After a short pupation phase, Rhyacophila transitions from the aquatic to the terrestrial environment. Adult R. betteni likely emerges in late summer or early autumn, and the remainder of their lives are spent mating and reproducing. Adult caddisflies lay their eggs in or near water, either as strings surrounded by a cement-like matrix or as gelatinous masses (Anderson 1976). As adults, they use trees as roosting places.

Caddisfly adults tend to remain near the emergence site where oviposition occurs. Although dispersal flights are common, they are relatively short and only occur immediately following emergence. Dispersal from emergence sites tends to be negatively correlated with vegetation density (Collier and Smith 1998). In other words, caddisflies tend to disperse shorter distances in dense forest compared with more open areas.

There are no known threats to Rhyacophila betteni, but threats to other populations of Rhyacophila in Montana include sediment and temperature increases resulting from road building, timber harvests, and other disturbances in forested riparian areas (Stagliano et al. 2007). Global climate change is also predicted to pose a threat to R. betteni and other cold-water, mountain stream insects.