An investigation of the caddisfly (Insecta: Trichoptera) fauna of the Malham Tarn NNR; with special reference to the Malham Sedge Agrypnetes crassicornis

摘要

During the 1950s some of the members of the entomological section of the YNU carried out an extensive^ investigation of the insect fauna of the area around Malham Tarn. For a period of seven to ten days each year from 1954-1958 this group, led by W. D. Hincks and J. H. Flint, were resident at Tarn House which had recently become a Field Studies Centre run by the Field Studies Council. The then warden of the centre, P. F. Holmes, who had a strong interest in caddisflies, took an active part in this investigation and wrote the section of the published report (Henson, 1963) concerning them. Seventy one species of caddis flies were recorded in the study area; which included the upper reaches of the nearby Gordale, Cowside and Darnbrook becks. This is approximately a third of the British caddis fly list and underlines Malham as an important area for this group of insects. Most of the caddis collecting was carried out by P.F. Holmes (who incorporated his records from 1948 onwards into the report) and A.Brindle. During 2013 a study of the caddisflies of the current Malham Tarn National Nature Reserve, a much smaller area than that covered by the 1950s study, was undertaken by S. and P.W.H. Flint. A good description, and historical review, of this high moorland site (centred on NGR SD890670; at c.380m above sea level) set in the karst landscape of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, is given by Corey Jones (Centre Director of the Malham Tarn Field Centre 1997-2000) in the magazine British Wildlife (Jones, 2001) and need not be repeated here.