TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF TRICHOPTERA RESEARCH RELATING TO SOUTHERN AFRICA - A PERSONAL VIEW

Abstract

A brief account of earlier work on Trichoptera, reasons for choice of the Order, and resources built up, is followed by the story of twenty-five years of research, from 1963–1988. This includes aims in view, followed by the ‘state of the art’ in regard to keys, general accounts, field surveys, the move to the Albany Museum and research in the East Cape. Other aspects of the research include comments on ecology and biology, giving numbers of known taxa and of their immature stages; caddis as biotic indicators; zoogeographical considerations and attendance at the Fourth International Symposium on Trichoptera. Detailed conclusions are followed by a look into the future and the question of continuity in research.