Family LACHESILLIDAE

Museums

Regional Maps

Introduction

Of this essentially Northern Hemisphere family of ten genera and more than 200 species, only two species in Lachesilla Westwood have been found in Australia. Both are known from Europe and have probably been introduced into Australia. Members of this family are mainly inhabitants of dried leaves, leaf litter and bark, with some species occurring in stored products and in houses.

Lachesillids have 13-segmented antennae and 2-segmented tarsi, the claws of which have a tooth. The pulvillus is narrow. The wing venation is very similar to that of the Caeciliidae but the wings are glabrous. The female gonapophyses are reduced, usually to a single, setose external valve. The phallosome is usually simply a Y-shaped structure but the ninth tergite, epiproct and hypandrium frequently have well developed processes of various shapes and sizes. The eggs are laid singly, are ridged, are neither encrusted with debris nor covered by silken threads.

General References

Garcia Aldrete, A.N. 1974. A classification above species level of the genus Lachesilla Westwood (Psocoptera: Lachesillidae). Folia Entomologica Mexicana 27: 1-88 278 figs

Garcia Aldrete, A.N. 1990. Sistematica de las especies de Lachesilla en la grupo rufa. Distribucion geographica y afinidades. (Insecta: Psocoptera: Lachesillidae). Anales del Instituto de Biologia, Universidad Nacional de Mexico Serie Zoología 61(1): 13-97 200 figs

Lienhard, C. 1989. Zwei interessante europäische Lachesilla-Arten (Psocoptera: Lachesillidae). Bulletin de la Société Entomologique Suisse 62: 307-314 figs 1-11

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

Mockford, E.L. & Sullivan, D.M. 1986. Systematics of the Graphocaeciliine Psocids with a proposed higher classification of the family Lachesillidae (Psocoptera). Transactions of the American Entomological Society 112: 1-80 157 figs

History of changes