The Mclachlan Types of North American Trichoptera in the British Museum

Abstract

During a period of 41 years of active work with the Trichoptera, 1862–1903, Robert McLachlan described 16 North American species. Type material of 15 of these is at present in the British Museum (Natural History) and forms the basis of this study. McLachlan's descriptions and illustrations, remarkably clear and inclusive as they are, are however, largely based on such structural characters as size, color, and vestiture. The descriptions of the male and female genitalia, when given, are based on dried specimens and as such are often somewhat inadequate, and do not reach the standard of his Monographic Revision of the European Fauna. Modern species recognition is based to a large extent upon male and female genitalic characters following the clearing of the genitalia in caustic potash. The increasingly large number of described North American species, many of them obviously closely related to McLachlan's species, have created a situation where it is highly desirable that the determination of these species be made easier and more reliable.