Worcestershire Record No. 5 Nov 1998 p. 17

KEEP HUNTING THE LAND CADDIS - ENOICYLA PUSILLA

Since our appeal for records in the May 1998 Worcestershire Record we have received a few more earlier records from Clent Hills, Kinver Edge, and West Malvern. I have plotted all the records received for the period 1978 to present day on the map on the basis of 1x1 km squares of the national grid. This map shows (as far as I can determine) the known national distribution of Enoicyla pusilla! It is, of course, a provisional distribution map as land caddis almost certainly occur in many other places. It would be useful and interesting to discover the true extent of their range. Winter is a good time to look for them! Please go and look!

As mentioned in the previous articles, land caddis larvae are most abundant in most years in woodland leaf litter from December to March. At the beginning of this period they are only about 2-3 mm long and eventually grow to about 8 mm in the summer. As they grow bigger they become less numerous. David Harding's most recent paper gives more information (Harding 1998). Small land caddis (according to David Harding!) look like "animated All Bran"! I mentioned this on local radio recently and someone only heard part of what I said and though I said "like bran". Shortly afterwards they were in a wood when the spangle galls were falling from oak leaves and turning brown - just like bran flakes! Sadly, not caddis! Also tube-forming microlepidoptera larvae have occasionally been mis-identified as land caddis

We do hope that many recorders will go out and look in woods, particularly in the north and NW of Worcestershire and in neighbouring counties. If you could look in woods within 1x1 km squares where there are no records that would be helpful. We also need negative records. Shaking out litter over a white tray or polythene sheet and then searching will usually reveal caddis if they are present. 

Acknowledgement

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