School of Geography - Research Publications

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Egg masses of some stream-dwelling caddisflies (Trichoptera: Hydrobiosidae) from Victoria, Australia

Lancaster, J ; Glaister, A (Wiley, 2019-08-01)

Eggs are a largely neglected life stage in most ecological studies of aquatic insects, despite the importance of oviposition behaviour and fecundity estimates for many research questions. Incorporating egg stages into ecological research requires that ecologists can identify and quantify eggs, but descriptions of eggs and egg masses are scarce for many groups and particularly for Australian taxa. This paper focusses on stream-dwelling caddisflies in the family Hydrobiosidae and provides species-level identifications, morphological descriptions and images of egg masses of some species that commonly occur in south-eastern Australia. All the species we identified laid plaque-shaped egg masses attached to the underside of river rocks that protrude above the water surface. These egg masses can be identified in the field with the naked eye or the aid of a low-magnification hand lens. Interspecific variations in egg mass morphology were primarily thickness and firmness of the spumaline layer, egg mass size and arrangement of eggs within the mass. We also provide some ecological information on clutch sizes and the physical characteristics of oviposition sites, and we discuss various ways in which these taxa could be exploited as model systems for ecological research.