Caddisfly

Caddisflies can spend up to two years living underwater. They rarely move away from lakes, streams, and freshwater. The Neotropical and Oriental caddis species enjoy great diversity among all the other caddisflies, with 47 to 77% thriving in the Western and Eastern regions. The described species are just two of the five caddisflies that comprise 55% of the global rder Trichoptera population. Unfortunately, adult caddisflies survive only for a couple of days. 

Homeowners usually encounter the majority of species in their adult stage. These homeowners complain about these caddisflies swarming around lamp posts at night. If you have damaged screens and constantly open doors, expect these pests to wander into your home. 

Overview of Caddisfly

If you want to get rid of caddisflies, the first thing you need to do is understand them. If you know how they develop, where they swarm, and in what condition they thrive, you can plan how to eliminate them. Here are a few things you need to note about order Trichoptera.  

Description

Like other moth-like insects, caddisflies get attracted to night-time light. They also live near rivers, lakes, and wetlands. They are well-known for being artificial fishing flies and fish food. They don’t need to breed and thrive inside buildings and homes. They also swarm periodically throughout different seasons. The caddisfly larvae move onto land where they mature and turn into their adult form.

General Features

Apart from resembling moths, caddisfly larvae also have elongated, caterpillar-like bodies. Adult caddisflies have hair-bearing wings. These wings grow in the prominent veins, membrane, or both. Their thorax and head are also typically hairy. On the other hand, their antennae are slender and long, usually comparable in the length of their anterior wing.

Life Cycle

Caddisfly adults have short lives that they mostly spend mating and laying eggs. Female caddisflies lay their eggs on the edge of the water. They usually dip their abdomen into the water surface before pushing their eggs out. The larvae ultimately develop through four different stages that last for months to a year. Their pupation and immature stages are usually aquatic, yielding at least one generation each year.

Ecology

These insects are aquatic and widely associated with a plethora of freshwater habitats. Water velocity, oxygen concentration, and the water’s chemical content are essential to the larvae’s survival. This made some caddisfly species biotic pollution indicators.

Classification

Caddisflies belong to the Trichoptera order, a family of holometabolous insects directly related to Lepidoptera. Over 15,000 extant caddisfly species have over 49 families and 600 genera. The young larvae are aquatic larvae – ubiquitous in freshwater yet diverse in streams and rivers. 

Form and function

Caddisflies are in different functional feeding groups of insectivores. It’s also usual for the larva’s trophic position and form to change with instar number and physical growth. Most caddis species consume algae at a particular stage, while others look for different types of food.

Risks and Dangers Associated With Caddisflies

If you live in a wetland, you’re undoubtedly familiar with American caddisflies. These insects are tagged as pests, but they’re not harmful to people either in larvae form or adult stage. The only issue with the described species is that they flock in large numbers and get highly attracted to lights. 

Their swarming behaviour, along with recorded occurrences of asthma and allergic reactions linked with their presence, is the reason why they’re now called pests. 

Despite being tagged as pests, caddisflies are helpful. The abundance of fly fishing literature suggests great food for trout and other fishes. That’s why they’re on every fisher’s box. They’re also used to determine whether or not a body of water is polluted. They also help reduce plant growth while disposing of plant and animal debris. 

How to Get Rid of Caddisflies

If you’re bothered by the swarming of caddisflies, you can do something about it. Here are helpful tips on how to safely get rid of caddisflies in your home or property.

Monitor 

Be patient when treating caddisflies, given that the complete life cycle of the caddisfly is not that long. They don’t have that much time to survive after becoming adults. If you can’t put up with the swarm, you can use a vacuum or apply registered chemical insecticide to reduce the problem. This can help knock down the population. 

However, if you want to go down the non-chemical route, start with light management and monitoring. Turn off the light when you see adult caddisflies are beginning to swarm. 

Relocate 

Another light management strategy is moving or installing light away from your home or buildings. Since these pests are heavily attracted to light, the absence of light will indeed push them away.

Apart from that, you might also want to relocate your home away from wetlands or other bodies of water. You see, these are their breeding grounds. The presence of moisture triggers hatching. If you want to control them, you can also stop them from reproducing. Some of these caddisflies use leaves and twigs as casings, while others use soil. Spot them at this stage and start exterminating. 

Replace 

One of the quickest and most innovative ways to control caddisflies is to replace standard fluorescent and incandescent lights with sodium vapour lights. The latter is less attractive to caddisflies and other insects. 

To get to know more about caddisflies and tips on how to get rid of them, check out Pest Guide.