This project was the main focus of Prather's 2002 PhD thesis.

Species of the endemic Neotropical genera Banyallarga and Phylloicus are common and conspicuous in streams. Thus, they are potentially very important to water quality biomonitoring efforts. However, it was difficult to place names on adult specimens, because published descriptions were inadequate for species discrimination.

The objectives of this project were to resolve adult taxonomy and phylogenetic relationships, identify synapomorphies for each genus, and describe new species. This provides a framework for larval associations and collection of ecological data, and documents the biodiversity of a significant component of the Neotropical caddisfly fauna.