Trichoptera of Costa Rica

Research Team

Ralph Holzenthal
Roger Blahnik
Fernando Muñoz-Quesada
Steve Harris

This research is based on approximately 125,000 specimens, collected at some 220 different localities across Costa Rica. We made approximately 20 collecting trips to the country between 1986-1995. These collections represent the most intensive field inventory of Trichoptera ever conducted in the Neotropics. To date, 463 Costa Rican species have been indentified, representing the most diverse caddisfly fauna yet recorded from any area in the Neotropics. About half of these species were undescribed at the time of collection.

Illustrations of important taxonomic characters of larvae and adults (some 2,000 illustrations) have been completed on over 400 of the species. Material is currently being bar-coded and databased using the program Biota (Colwell 1996) (84,416 specimens to date). The research has been conducted in conjunction with Costa Rica's Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (INBio) and its larger goal to inventory the entire biota of the country. In addtion to field work, the project has supported graduate student dissertation research on a number of taxa as well as the work of Dr. Steven C. Harris, Clarion University, on the microcaddisflies (Hydroptilidae) of Costa Rica. Several additional monographic revisions are nearing completion. The approach of our research has been to use the Costa Rican fauna as a bridge to investigate the Neotropical fauna in its entirety, thus resulting in better and more stable taxonomy overall.

Products and specific information (under construction):

Research Publications
Checklist of Species
Synopsis of Costa Rican families