Species Hesperophylax designatus - Silver-striped Sedge

Giant Golden Caddis

described in 1852 by Walker, who originally placed it in genus Limnephilus

One of 6 species in this genus in the Nearctic region on the Trichoptera World Checklist

Adult: forewing brownish-orange with three thin silvery-white longitudinal stripes: the main stripe is about half the wing's length and situated centrally, just anterior to its midpoint; two smaller black-edged white stripes run parallel over posterior third of wing, offset above and below the level of the first stripe, and extending to the outer margin (see photo)

Larva: abdomen enclosed in elongate cylindrical case composed of rock/stone fragments

Alaska to Newfoundland, extending south in the east to Pennsylvania and Illinois, and south in the west to New Mexico and California; absent in southeastern states

adults fly from June to August in Yukon Territory

larvae feed mainly on detritus

Will come to artificial lights at night.

Limnephilus ornatus forewing contains several elliptical white spots in subterminal area, lacking in H. designatus

some Psychoglypha species (such as P. avigo) have longitudinal white stripes on the forewing, but not in the specific arrangement seen in H. designatus

live adult image (T.W. Davies, courtesy U. of California at Berkeley)

live adult image (enature.com)

live adult image (worleybuggerflyco.com)

live larval case image showing several dozen cases on a log (Government of Montana)

drawings of larval case and larva removed from case; PDF doc plus key to larval families (R.W. Bouchard, U. of Minnesota)

seasonality; PDF doc (Glenn Wiggins and Charles Parker, Caddisflies of the Yukon, courtesy U. of Alberta)

distribution listing states and provinces of occurrence (NatureServe Explorer)

Trichoptera World Checklist (searchable)