Family SPHAEROPSOCIDAE

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Introduction

Sphaeropsocidae are a small family comprising only three genera and 12 species. Only one species has been recorded in Australia. This is known only from females which have been found in grass tussocks, leaf litter and in association with cycads. The family has a typically Gondwanan distribution with one species known from Baltic amber.

Sphaeropsocidae are very distinctive, the overall appearance being that of a tiny beetle. They are very small, with 3-segmented tarsi. The small eyes are often reduced to few ocelloids and there are no ocelli. In alate forms only the forewings are present: they are strongly convex, elytriform and have reduced venation of which the veins are extremely thick; the thickened membrane is granular in appearance, with the 'granules' grouped into polygonal fields. Some of the posterior abdominal terga are fused. The subgenital plate has an internal T-shaped sclerite. The gonapophyses are complete, with a somewhat broadened dorsal valve and with a large external valve which is not setose. The phallosome is anteriorly closed in those species for which males are known.

General References

Badonnel, A. 1967. Psocoptères edaphique du Chili. (2e note). Biologie de l'Amérique Australe 3: 541-585 80 figs

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