Caeciliusidae
Stenopsocidae
Amphipsocidae
Dasydemellidae
Top↑
Family CAECILIUSIDAE
Stenocaecilius antillanus (Banks) 1938

Size: 2.8 mm Range: From south Florida, south Texas, Mexico, Surinam and Cuba Habitat: Found on dead foliage of palms, grasses and cycads This species is parthenogenetic. This specimen was collected in Kingsville, TX.
Stenocaecilius casarum (Badonnel) 1931

Size: ~ 3.5 mm
Range outside Texas:
Gulf Coast from south Florida to the Rio Grande Valley. Wide range in
the tropics including Mexico, Guatemala & Venezuela. Habitat:
Living or dead palm foilage. With the exception of a single male taken in Guyana, this species consists only of females.
Top↑
Valenzuela indicator Mockford 1969

Size: ~ 4 mm, Range outside Texas: Florida, Georgia, and Cuba. Habitat: found on various trees including oaks, palms and
on Sapnish moss.
Images by Robert Zimlich.
Valenzuela manteri (Sommerman) 1943

Size: ~ 3 mm Range outside Texas: eastern U. S., records in Minnesota, Missouri and Nebraska. Habitat: dead leaves of cattail, corn and palmetto. This species was described by Kathryn M. Sommerman
in "Description and bionomics of
Caecilius manteri", Proc. Ent. Soc. of Washington, 45(2): 9-39, 1943 with marvelous illustrations. Males are rare in this species.
Valenzuela micanopi (Mockford) 1965

Size: male 3.0 mm, female 3.2 mm Range outside Texas: throughout Florida, southeast Alabama and on Bimini Island and the Bahamas. Habitat: dead leaves of
Sabal and
Coccothrinax.
Top↑
Valenzuela nadleri Mockford 1966

Size: male 2.6 mm, female 2.7 mm. Range: eastern U.S., west to Wisconsin and Missouri, also SE Canada. Recent records extend range westward. Habitat: leaf litter. Females dimorphic- macropterous and micropterous.
See frame below for micropterous female.

This is an image of the micropterous female by Jean Brodeur of Canada. This female morph looks very similar to the micropterous female of
Valenzuela posticus. Micropterous females of
V. nadleri, however,
have dark antennae all the way to the tip. Both occur in leaf litte
Valenzuela posticus Banks 1914

Size: male 3-4 mm, micropterous female 2 mm. Range outside Texas: records from Florida, Illinois, Michigan and New York. Females either fully winged or microptreous. The micropterous
V. nadleri which looks very similar has uniformly dark antennae while those of
V. posticus are pale terminally.
Male image by Ken Allen, female image by John F. Carr.
Family DASYDEMELLIDAE
Teliapsocus conterminus (Walsh) 1863

Size: 5.6 mm Range: Throughout most of U.S. and Canada, but absent from northern midwestern states. Habitat: Great variety of broad-leaf and coniferous trees and occasionally ground litter. Not known outside North America.
Male image by Patrick Coin.
Family STENOPSOCIDAE
Infraorder Epipsocetae
Family EPIPSOCIDAE
*click the bug for BugGuide.net*
Bertkauia crosbyana Chapman 1930

Size: ~ 1.7 mm Range: throughout eastern
U.S., southern
Rocky Mts., northwest Washington state. Mexico: San Cristobal and
Chiapas. Habitat: woodland ground litter. Males (very rare)
macropterous, femaes micropterous.
A Disturbance in the Force …
Within the suborder Psocomorpha, the infraorder Homilopsocidea has been a problem. Molecular genetic studies have cast doubt on the monophyly of this taxon. A recent elegant study by Oscar Fernando Saenz Manchola, Alfonso Gracía Aldrete, Kevin P. Johnson, and three other authors splits this infraorder into two monophyletic groups: Homilopsocidea 1 (Ectopsocidae and Peripsocidae) and Homilopsocidea 2 (Elipsocidae, Lachesillidae, and Mesopsocidae). I will follow this taxonomic change here.
Homilopsocidea 1
Family ECTOPSOCIDAE
Top↑
Ectopsocus meridionalis Ribaga 1904

Size: 2.4 mm Range outside Texas: throughout eastern U.S. south to Florida; central Mexico to Chile, southern Europe, Africa and Japan. Habitat: persistent dead leaves. Known only from female.
Ectopsocus richardsi Pearman 1929

Size: 1.2-1.5 mm Range: Cosmopolitan with records in the U.S. from south Florida and south Texas. Habitat: Generally associated with stored food products, but also found in natural areas. This species exhibits some interesting behavior documented on my YouTube channel "Diane Young Psocoptera"
Ectopsocus vachoni Badonnel 1945

Size: males ~ 1.0 mm, females ~ 1.7 mm Range outside Texas: U.S. Gulf Coast States, California; Mexico, South America, and Europe. Habitat: leaf
litter, dried grass and lower foliage of trees. This species is common throughout Texas.
See frame below for micropterous female.

In this species, the males are micropterous and the females are either macropterous or micropterous. The tiny male has a dark clunial comb (visible in a dissecting microscope) which identifies it as mature. Males in this species stridulate several times during courtship as they approach the female. See my YouYube channel: "Diane Young Psocoptera".
Family PERIPSOCIDAE
Peripsocus madidus (Hagen) 1861

Size: ~ 3.2 mm Range outside Texas: Nova Scotia south to Florida and west to central Texas. Habitat: bark and branches of broad-leaf and coniferous trees.
The barchypterous form of this species is shown below. I do not find this form in central Texas but did record them from Austin Co.
Top↑
Peripsocus pauliani Babonnel 1949

Size: unknown. Range: Records from three counties in Florida. Also found in Mexico, the Guianas, Brazil, Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, central Africa, and Sri Lanka. This image was taken by Eddie Karny in the Lesser Antiles. I include it here as it may well occur along the Texas coast. Males have been recorded at some sites. The sex of the individual shown is not known. Note the different marking on the vertex from the common
Peripsocus madidus.
Peripsocus stagnivagus Chapman 1930

Size: 1.7-2.1 mm. Range: Eastern North America and Europe. Habitat: Trunks and branches of trees, Spanish moss and dead palm fronds. Most populations are parthenogenstic except for areas in Illinois and Texas.
Peripsocus subfasciatus (Rambur) 1842

Size: ~ 2.7 Range outside Texas: eastern U.S., west to Minnesota and Arkansas, Pacific Coast from San Francisco Bay to British Columbia. Habitat: branches of broadleaf and coniferous trees and
shaded stone outcrops. Male virtually absent except in Washington state and Vancouver, British Columbia.
Peripsocus minimus Mockford 1971

Size: ~ 2.0 mm Range outside Texas: southern Illinois
southwestward to Missoiri, Arkansas and central Texas Habitat:
foliage of
Juniperus virginiana and
Juniperus ashei.
Peripsocus sp.

Size: male: ~ 2.2 mm, female ~ 1.5 mm Range: unknown Habitat: Lichen
covered branches of
Quercus
virginiana and Texas persimmon (
Diospyros texana). This is an un-described species in which the female is micropterous.
Infraorder Homilopsocidea 2
Family LACHESILLIDAE
Andra Group
Corona Group
Top↑
Lachesilla michiliensis Garcia Aldrete 1991

Size: ~ 1.5 mm Range outside Texas: Mexico: Durango
State Habitat: under loose bark. Known only from female. "This species is neotenic as indicated by the brachyptery, small oceli and almost complete absence of sensory fields on the paraprocts" Garcia Aldrete, A., "Lachesillidae from the Biosphere Reserve 'La Michilia", Durango and Surrounding Areas, Folia Entomologica Mexicana 81: 165-183, 1991.
photograph by Graham Montgomery
Forcepeta Group
Lachesilla forcepeta Chapman 1930

Size: ~ 2.0 mm Range outside Texas: throughout eastern U.S. west to Oklahoma and Kansas. Habitat:
conifers including
Juniperus ashei. Male claspers point inward.
Top↑
Pedicularia Group
Lachesilla otomi Mockford 2002

Size: 2 mm Range: From coastal Florida and Texas to Mexico and Central America. Habitat: Dead hanging leaves of native grasses, Palmetto, and various shrubs.
Lachesilla tectorum Badonnel 1931

Size: 2.5 mm Range: Gulf coast, from Florida to Texas, and in the Mexican states of Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon. Habitat: dead leaves of palm
and tall grasses Known from female only.
Top↑
Riegeli Group
Rufa Group
Sclera Group
Lachesilla sulcata Garcia Aldrete 1986

Size: ~ 2.0 mm Range outside Texas: Gulf states from Texas to
Florida. Mexico: Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas, Chiapas. Habitat: native
grass.The male of this species was only recently been described
(Garcia Aldrete & Mockford "Reappraisal of Species Group Patzunensis" Proc. Ent. Soc. Washington 113(4): 417-425, 2011.
Infraorder Philotarsetae
Family PHILOTARSIDAE
Aaroniella badonneli (Danks) 1950

Size: ~ 3 mm Range: east Texas, occurs throughout much of the eastern U. S. and north to Ontario, the soviet state of Georgia and the Azores. Habitat: twigs and lichen covered branches of a variety of trees and shrubs. Known only from female.
Family PSEUDOCAECILIIDAE
Pseudocaecilius citricola (Ashmead) 1879

Size: 2.8 mm Range outside Texas: occurs throughout Florida, on the Alabama coast, pan-tropical; is even recorded on the Galapagos Islands; Habitat: living leaves of citrus, evergreen oaks, palms
and other trees. Known from female only.
Family TRICHOPSOCIDAE
Trichopsocus dalii (McLachlan) 1867

Size: ~ 2.8 mm Range outside Texas: this introduced species is found
in states on the Gulf and Atlantic coast of the U.S. and in the Atlantic and Mediteranean coast of Europe and North Africa Habitat: branches of broad leaf trees like citrus, bay,
Ligustrum and
Ilex.
Infraorder Psocetae
Family HEMIPSOCIDAE
Family MYOPSOCIDAE
Top↑
Family PSOCIDAE
Amphigerontiinae
Psocinae
Subfamily Amphigerontiinae
Top↑
Blaste longipennis (Banks) 1918

Size: ~ 5 mm. Range outside Texas: Yellowstone Natonal Park south to
Chiricahua Mountainsof Arizona. Habitat: Collected on dwarf mistletoe,
Arceuthobuim vaginatum and conifers.
Top↑
Subfamily Psocinae
Tribe Cerastipsocini
Cerastipsocus venosus (Burmeister) 1839

Size: male ~ 6 mm female 8 mm Range outside Texas:- Maine south to southern Florida; south to Mexico. Habitat: Trunks and brances of broad leaf trees and conifers. Pterostigma of males is dark while those of females are white.
Images by Robert Zimlich.
Cerastipsocus trifasciatus (Provancher) 1876

Size: ~ 6 mm. Range outside Texas: Southestern U.S. continuing through Arkansas to Arizona. Also in Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Columbia. Habitat: Tree trunks and branches and rock outcrops.
Male image by Juan Carlos Garcia Morales, Female image by William Geoghegan.
Tribe Metylophorini
Metylophorus novaescotiae (Walker) 1853

Size: 6-7 mm Range outside Texas: Nova Scotia and coastal Maine to Florida, west to Minnesota. Habitat: Branches of broad-leaf trees and shrubs. Also occurs in Mexico.
Images by Tom Murray.
Tribe Psocini
Top↑
Hyalopsocus striatus (Walker) 1853

Size: 5.3 mm Range outside Texas: Throughout northeastern U.S. and southeast Canada. Occurs spottily in western states. Habitat: branches of broad-leaf and conifer trees. This species is characterized by the extensive pigment in cells Cu
2 and IA in the forewing.
Tribe Ptyctini
Top↑
Indiopsocus lacteus Mockford & Young 2015

Size: ~ 3.9 Range: endemic to Texas Hill Country. Habitat: lower
bare limbs of living
Juniperus ashei. Recently described in Trans. Am. Entomol. Soc. 141:233-251.
Indiopsocus palmatus Mockford & Young 2015

Size: ~ 3.8 Range : Apparently a Texas endemic. Habitat: braodleaf trees like
Quercus virginiana, Celtis reticulata Ulmus crassifolia and Acacia farnesiana. Recently described in Trans. Am. Entomol. Soc. 141:233-251.
Top↑