Larval cases of caddisfly (Insecta: Trichoptera) affinity in Early Permian marine environments of Gondwana

Abstract

Caddisflies (Trichoptera) are small, cosmopolitan insects closely related to the Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies). Most caddisflies construct protective cases during their larval development. Although the earliest recognisable caddisflies date back to the early Mesozoic (Early and Middle Triassic), being particularly numerous and diverse during the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous, the first records of their larval case constructions are known exclusively from much younger, Early to Middle Jurassic non-marine deposits in the northern hemisphere. Here we present fossils from the Early Permian (Asselian-Sakmarian) marine deposits of Brazil which have strong morphological and compositional similarity to larval cases of caddisflies. If they are, which is very probable, these finds not only push back the fossil record of true caddisflies, but also indicate that their larvae constructed cases at the very beginning of their evolution in marine environments. Since modern caddisflies that construct larval cases in marine environments are only known from eastern Australia and New Zealand, we suggest that this marine ecology may have first evolved in western Gondwana during the Early Permian and later spread across southern Pangea.