Tinodes waeneri
Tinodes waeneri is a brown species, measuring 4 to 5mm and reaching a wingspan of 13 to 18mm. It can be identified by looking at the veins in the wing. The wing itself is rather pointed, another characteristic of this species. As there are two overlapping breeds a year, the animal is on the wing for a long time, usually from the beginning of May to the end of October, sometimes even into November.
The larva of Tinodes waeneri is green and grows to a length of some 9 mm. It lives inside a silken tube, which is attached to a stone. It feeds by scraping algae off of the survace of the stone. It is even famous as a 'gardening insect'. It puts algae in patches on the rock and it feeds these algae with its own excretions. To ensure the algae have a good support on often slippery rocks, the larvae make a floor of silken threads for the algae to cling on to. Algae grown this way may even make up some 25% of all food intake.
Tinodes waeneri is a common species all over the Northern Hemisphere. In Northern America one of the species regularly referred to as the Small Red Sedge in flyfishing.
