Blaste falcifer Smithers, 1979

Schmidt, Evan R. & New, Timothy R., 2008, The Psocoptera (Insecta) of Tasmania, Australia, Memoirs of Museum Victoria 65, pp. 71-152 : 135

Blaste falcifer Smithers

Figures 200 –05

Blaste falcifer Smithers, 1979: 66 .

This species was described from a single male collected from southwestern Tasmania. Additional material of both sexes was obtained in this study and a description of the female is provided.

Material examined. Specimen on which description based: Tasmania, 1, Cradle Mountain – Lake St Clair National Park , Athrotaxis selaginoides, Weindorfers Forest , 7 Feb 1987. Additional records: many individuals collected from January to May .

Description of female. Coloration (after ca 5 years in alcohol). Identical to that of male, including fore wing (fig. 200) pattern.

Morphology. IO:D = 2.3 ( IO:D = 1.8 for male). Head larger than male. Antennae long, very slender, with sparse fine setae; sensory placoids: 3 base f 1, 1 apices f 4, f 6 and 1 central f 10; terminal segment bluntly rounded. Fore wing (fig. 200) with setae on posterior and anterior margins of veins r, m+cu and an; vein cu 2 with few fine setae; veins rs and m fused for a short length; both sections of vein cu 1a at slight angle, basal section longer than apical section. Hind wing (fig. 201) glabrous. Epiproct (fig. 202) with pair of weakly sclerotised lateral longitudinal bars. Paraproct (fig. 202) with round field of 35 trichobothria. Subgenital plate (fig. 203) with apically setose rectangular median lobe. Gonapophyses (fig. 204): ventral valve with slender apical spiculate spine; dorsal valve with broad blunt spiculate apex; external valve transverse with large dorsal lobe. Spermathecal plate (fig. 205).

Dimensions. B 3.6, FW 4.66, HW 3.45, F 0.96, T 2.01, t

1

0.624, t

2

0.197, rt 3.2:1, ct 27,3, f

1

0.774, f

2

0.711.

Remarks. This locally widespread species was taken from some sites of rainforest, wet scrub and heath. In general morphology and fore wing pigmentation this species is nearly identical to that of B. panops . However, both sexes of the two species can easily be separated on genitalic characters: the hypandrium of males of B. falcifer has a pair of well developed, curved posterolateral processes which are lacking in B. panops ; the strong median lobe of the female subgenital plate of B. falcifer contrasts with the very short and medially emarginate lobe of B. panops . The female genitalia of B. falcifer resemble those of B. bistriata (above) and B. tillyardi (below), but all can be separated on details of fore wing pigmentation. Specimens have been found to vary considerably in size. Fore wing lengths varied from 4.4–5.4 mm (), 4.0–4.7 mm ().

Figures

Figures 200-205. Blaste falcifer. Female: 200, fore wing; 201, hind wing; 202, epiproct and paraproct; 203, subgenital plate; 204, gonapophyses; 205, spermathecal plate. Figures 200, 201 and 202 and 204 to common scales.