order
                        
                      
                                    Coleoptera
                                       “Adult Beetles”
                                  
                                    Coleoptera
                                       “Larval Beetles”
                                  
                                    Diptera
                                       “True Flies”
                                  
                                    Ephemeroptera
                                       “Mayflies”
                                  
                                    Hemiptera
                                       “True Bugs”
                                  
                                    Lepidoptera
                                       “Aquatic Caterpillars, Snout Moths”
                                  
                                    Megaloptera
                                       “Alderflies, Dobsonflies, and Fishflies”
                                  
                                    Odonata
                                       “Dragonflies and Damselflies”
                                  
                                    Plecoptera
                                       “Stoneflies”
                                  
                                    Trichoptera
                                       “Caddisflies”
                                 family
                        
                     Dipseudopsidae
            
               “Pitot-tube Caddisflies”
            
      Family Overview
                  
               
                           Dipseudopsidae
                               
                              
                        
                            
                              
                        Pitot-tube Caddisflies
                     
                        Phylocentropus is the only genus in the family Dipseudopsidae in North America. Larvae burrow in sand or soft sediment and stabilize the walls of their burrow by shoring them with silk extruded from a long, movable spinneret. The tips of the branching burrow protrude above the sediment, looking like little sticks. A side branch of the retreat is enlarged and contains a silken net used to filter tiny bits of organic matter for food. They tend to live in pools or along the edges of slow-moving water. They are found throughout the eastern and central United States. Characters unique to this group include a large hump between membranous meso- and metanota, the especially long spinneret, and flattened tarsi longer than the tibiae.
                  
               Characteristics
                  
               POLLUTION TOLERANCE
                        Mid-Atlantic: up to 5
                                 Upper Midwest: up to 4
                                 Southeast: up to 5.6
                              0 = least tolerant, 10 = most tolerant
                        FEEDING HABITS
                        
                                 Collector / Filterer
                        
                     MOVEMENT
                        
                                 Burrower
                        
                     Diagnostic Characters
               order
                      
                                       
                                    Prolegs With Single Hook
                                 family
                         
                                       
                                    Branching Retreat
                                  
                                       
                                    Hump Between Nota
                                  
                                       
                                    Large Spinneret
                                  
                                       
                                    Tarsi Flattened 
                                 
                  + Expanded Character List
                  
                     
               
            
                        Order:
                           Larvae: Wings/wing pads absent. Eye spots present, but compound eyes absent. Antennae usually small, inconspicuous. Three pairs of segmented legs present on thorax. Pair of anal prolegs, each with single hook, located on last abdominal segment. Larvae can be free-living, in silken retreats attached to substrate, or in usually-portable tubes or cases made of sand, rocks, or plant material.
                     
                     
                        Family:
                           Large spinneret, half as long as head. Labrum sclerotized, never withdrawn or T-shaped. Antennae tiny and inconspicuous. Pronotum without anterolateral lobes. Meso- and metanota membranous with large hump between them. Tarsi flattened and longer than tibiae. Abdominal tergum IX without sclerite. Larvae living in branching tube-like retreats buried in sand or soft sediment, except tips of branches sticking above sediment.
                     
                  Lateral
               



