Family PSEUDOCAECILIIDAE

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Introduction

Pseudocaeciliidae are a large family of 18 genera and more than 250 species. Thirteen genera and 38 species have been recorded for the Australian fauna, including Christmas Island (Smithers 1995). They are mainly inhabitants of leaves.

Pseudocaeciliids have 13-segmented antennae and the tarsi are 2- or 3-segmented. The claws do not usually have a tooth. The pulvillus is broad. The wing venation is usually similar to that of the Caeciliidae but the pterostigma and areola postica are usually relatively narrower and longer and in some species the radius and media are joined by a crossvein instead of being fused for a length. In the forewing vein M+Cu has two rows of setae; the branches of the veins and the wing margin have more than one row of setae with many of those of the margin crossing each other in a characteristic fashion. The gonapophyses and phallosome are similar to those of the Calopsocidae. In the genus Pseudocaecilius Enderlein, at least, the eggs are smooth and encrusted with debris but for most genera the eggs have not been described.

General References

Enderlein, G. 1903. Die Copeognathen des indo-australischen Faunengebietes. Annales Historico-Naturales Musei Nationalis Hungarici (Zoologica) 1: 179-344 12 figs pls iii-xiv

Lee, S.S. & Thornton, I.W.B. 1967. The family Pseudocaeciliidae (Psocoptera)—a reappraisal based on the discovery of new Oriental and Pacific species. Pacific Insects Monographs 16: 1-116 187 figs

Mockford, E.L. 1984. Relationships among philotarsid and pseudocaeciliid genera and a proposed new family Bryopsocidae (Psocoptera). Psyche (Cambridge) Camb. 91(3–4): 309-318 3 figs

Schmidt, E.R. & New, T.R. 2008. The Psocoptera (Insecta) of Tasmania, Australia. Memoirs of Museum Victoria 65: 71–152 [123] (key to genera recorded from Tasmania)

Smithers, C.N. 1995. Psocoptera (Insecta) of Christmas Island. Invertebrate Taxonomy 9: 529-561

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