The genus includes several species, which cannot be separated in their larval stage at present.

Distribution: Hydroptila spp. is widely distributed in Europe and in European Russia (Malicky 2004).

Habitat: The larvae occur in running waters or in the littoral of lakes and ponds (Waringer & Graf 1997).

Nutrition: Larvae feed on filamentous algae by breaching the cell walls and sucking out the semi-fluid contents (Malicky 1973, Waringer & Graf 1997, Graf et al. 2002).