Author Description

This important title on the biology of caddisflies is divided into three parts: (1) History of caddisfly research - Beginning with Aristoteles and the descriptive research on natural phenomena of the ancient world. This part also includes late mediaeval representations of Trichoptera, the description of the stock of caddisflies in the Age of Enlightenment - before and after Linne - and the increasing scientific interest in the 19th century. Morphology and anatomy, history of development and reproduction, behavior and physiology, and ecology and nature conservation have been central issues in the 20th century. In this treatment of the caddisfly research history, the authors acknowledge, wherever applicable, scientists with their methodologies, in text and illustrations. (2) Biology of caddisflies - The biology of caddisflies has been examined in a copious number of valuable in-depth studies, however not all questions have been resolved. New problems of central interest have developed, and an immense number of questions concerning the biology of individual species still remain. The book is based on the two authors’ experiences, and it studies examples mainly from the European area, emphasizing ecological and physiological topics that are the exploratory focuses of the authors. (3) Palaeontology and phylogenetic systematics - Another basal and essential subject of the book is the phylogenetic tree of the caddisflies and the intrinsically tied discussion on it. Preliminary studies on morphological taxonomy, methodology of phylogenetic systematics, as well as the approach of molecular phylogeny in the last quarter of the 20th century have contributed several valuable proposals to the solution of this problem. Contributions to this discussion have been provided by numerous intensively-studied caddisfly fossils. The oldest fossils originate from the Permian and Devonian periods, but caddisfly fossils are known from almost all geological strata to date. Diversity of caddi