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Musapsocidae

Emilie Bess and Kevin P. Johnson

Musapsocoides
Musapsocus

Containing group: Troctomorpha

Introduction

Musapsocidae includes two genera and nine species. Musapsocus is known from Mexico and Central and South America. Musapscoides nadleri, the only species in the genus, is from Peru.

Characteristics

Head:

Antennae have 12 segments.
Frontal sutures are absent.

Legs:

Tarsi have 2 segments.

Wings:

Forewing pterostigma is open at the base (distal section of vein Sc is missing).
Forewing veins 2A joins 1A or ends before it reaches the margin.
Hindwing vein Rs is absent, but the two ends of the vein are sometimes present.

Female:

Subgenital plate has a broad internal sclerite.
External valve of ovipositor is hairless and is not divided into lobes.

Male:

Distal region of phallosome (aedeagus) is divided distally with membranous sheets connecting the two arms.
Parameres near top of phallosome cross each other medially.

Discussion of Phylogenetic Relationships

Molecular analysis including one species of Musapsocus placed family Musapsocidae in infraorder Amphientometae (18S nDNA; Johnson et al. 2004), but relationships within the family have not been investigated with molecular data.

References

Johnson, K. P., K. Yoshizawa, and V. S. Smith. 2004. Multiple origins of parasitism in lice. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 271:1771-1776.

Lienhard, C. and C.N. Smithers. 2002. Psocoptera (Insecta) World Catalogue and Bibliography. Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle, Geneva, Switzerland.

Mockford, E.L. 1967. The Electrentomoid Psocids (Psocoptera). Psyche 74: 118-165.

Mockford, E. L. 1993. North American Psocoptera (Insecta). Gainesville, Florida: Sandhill Crane Press.

Smithers, C.N. 1972. The classification and phylogeny of the Psocoptera. Memoirs of the Australian Museum 14: 1–349.

About This Page

Emilie Bess
Illinois Natural History Survey, Champaign, Illinois, USA

Kevin P. Johnson
Illinois Natural History Survey, Champaign, Illinois, USA

Correspondence regarding this page should be directed to Emilie Bess at and Kevin P. Johnson at

First online 25 March 2009
Content changed 25 March 2009

Citing this page:

Bess, Emilie and Kevin P. Johnson. 2009. Musapsocidae. Version 25 March 2009 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Musapsocidae/14459/2009.03.25 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/

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