Family LIPOSCELIDIDAE

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Introduction

The Liposcelididae (corrected from the previously used name, Liposcelidae, by Lienhard (1990)), comprise seven genera and more than 170 species worldwide, and include the insects commonly found amongst undisturbed papers and books and usually called 'booklice'. Only six species in two genera have been recorded for Australia. All are common, especially in buildings and in stored products, where they may develop enormous populations and cause economically significant damage especially where storage conditions permit the abundant growth of microflora. Many of the species have worldwide distributions. The literature on economic entomology has very many references to Liposcelis divinatorium. This species cannot now be recognised and undoubtedly over the years many species have been included under this name. The name has, in effect, for a long time been applied to any species of the genus found in domestic situations or in stored products. With increasing interest in the species found in Australian stored products many more of the widely distributed species, as well as native species, will probably be recorded.

Liposcelidids are all small and are strongly depressed dorsoventrally. The antennae are fairly short even though made up of 15 (sometimes 17) segments. They are secondarily annulated. The eyes are reduced, sometimes to a few ommatidia in wingless forms. The pronotum is divided into three lobes, the middle lobe with a longitudinal line. The meso- and metanota are separate in winged forms but fused in apterous forms. The wings are elongate and usually carried flat over the back, the veins being reduced to indistinct thickenings of the membrane. The hind femora are dilated and the tarsi are 3-segmented. The claws have one tooth. Some of the abdominal terga at the hind end of the body are fused into a 'clunium'. The subgenital plate of the female has an internal T-shaped sclerite. The gonapophyses are complete, without setae. The eggs are smooth, laid singly and are encrusted with debris.

General References

Badonnel, A. 1963. Psocoptères terricoles, lapidicoles et corticoles du Chili. Biologie de l'Amérique Australe 2: 291-338 88 figs

Badonnel, A. 1992. Psocoptères. Biologie de l'Amérique Australe 1: 185-229 104 figs

Broadhead, E. 1950. A revision of the genus Liposcelis Motschulsky with notes on the position of this genus in the order Corrodentia and on the variability of ten Liposcelis species. Transactions of the Entomological Society of London 101(10): 335-388 3 pls 28 figs

Lienhard, C. 1977. Die Psocopteren des schweizerischen National Parks und seiner Umgebung (Insecta: Psocoptera). Ergebnisse der Wissenschaftlichen Untersuchungen im Schweizerischen Nationalpark 14: 417-551 102 figs 18 tables

Lienhard, C. 1990. Revision of the Western Palaearctic species of Liposcelis Motschulsky (Psocoptera: Liposcelididae). Zoologische Jahrbücher. Abteilung für Systematik 117: 117-174 figs 1-21

Mockford, E.L. 1993. North American Psocoptera (Insecta). Fauna and Flora Handbook No. 10. Gainesville, Florida : Sandhill Crane Press pp. i-xviii 455.

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