Diversity and distribution of the caddisfly genus Atopsyche Banks, 1905 in Ecuador, with the description of seven new species (Trichoptera: Hydrobiosidae)

Atopsyche is the largest Hydrobiosidae genus on the South American continent. The genus previously included 27 species in Ecuador. In this work, we describe and illustrate seven new species of Atopsyche from the Andes of Ecuador: Atopsyche andina sp. nov., Atopsyche azuayana sp. nov., Atopsyche chocoandina sp. nov., Atopsyche jocotoco sp. nov., Atopsyche papallacta sp. nov., Atopsyche piburja sp. nov., and Atopsyche tapichalaca sp. nov. Additionally, we provide distributional information for all Ecuadorian Atopsyche, including three new country records: A. kingi, A. mayucapac, and A. neotropicalis. With these additions, there are now 37 species of Atopsyche in Ecuador, or about 75% of species in the country, according to the CHAO 2 species estimator. Finally, we provide new and more detailed illustrations for A. bolivari, A. bravoi, and A. davidsoni.