Diversity and distribution of the Trichoptera of Florida, United States, with descriptions of five new species

Based on previously published species accounts and collection records of the authors, a county-level distributional checklist of all 220 caddisfly species documented within Florida is presented, representing 46 genera within 19 families. New state records are provided for four species and five new Integripalpian species are described and illustrated: Protoptila chipolensis Rasmussen & Harris, sp. nov. (Glossosomatidae), Hydroptila aviforma Rasmussen & Harris, sp. nov.

(Hydroptilidae), Beraea jennyae Rasmussen & Harris, sp. nov. (Beraeidae), Ceraclea pescadori Rasmussen & Harris, sp. nov. (Leptoceridae), and Oecetis densoni Rasmussen & Harris, sp. nov.

(Leptoceridae). The most speciose families within Florida are the Hydroptilidae (77 species), Leptoceridae (54 species), Hydropsychidae (21 species) and Polycentropodidae (18 species). In addition to county-level distributional data, conservation status ranks and ranking recommendations for the newly described species are also provided.

The majority of Florida’s caddisfly species are native to the eastern Nearctic, with many endemic (precinctive) to the Southeastern Coastal Plain, including 34 species known only from Florida. Diversity and distributional data are summarized for each family and regional diversity is compared between the panhandle and peninsula. Taxa richness and endemism are higher in the panhandle than in the peninsula.

The panhandle contains 213 recorded species with 23 species endemic to the region, compared to the peninsula containing 131 recorded species, with five of those endemic to the peninsula. The higher taxonomic richness and presence of many cool-adapted taxa within the panhandle is likely due the temperate climate, diverse lentic and lotic habitats, and connectedness of river basins that extend north into Alabama and Georgia.

The water bodies in counties of the Florida peninsula have a less diverse caddisfly fauna with taxonomic richness generally decreasing north to south along the peninsula, where habitat diversity declines and mean annual temperature increases.