Aquatic Insect Gallery

Aquatic insects spend at least part of their life cycle in the water and include organisms that you may be familiar with such as dragonflies and caddisflies. Below you will find pictures of the larval stages of four insect orders commonly found in freshwater habitats. Roll over each of the pictures to see what the adult stage looks like. Besides being just plain interesting, aquatic insects are often used as indicators of water quality.

Plecoptera -- Pteronarcys sp.


Ephemeroptera -- Callibaetis sp.


Odonata -- Pantala sp.


Trichoptera -- Rhyacophila sp.