Abelopsocus, Schmidt & New, 2008

Schmidt, Evan R. & New, Timothy R., 2008, The Psocoptera (Insecta) of Tasmania, Australia, Memoirs of Museum Victoria 65, pp. 71-152 : 126-127

Abelopsocus gen. nov.

Diagnosis. Belonging to the Philotarsidae Pearman (1936) as defined by Thornton (1981). Fore wing: slipper-shaped, strongly pigmented, vein cu 2 glabrous. Hind wing: with slight pigmented regions, particularly around posterior margin; vein cu 1 glabrous; veins r 4+5 and m setose. Female antennae: flagellar segments long, slender; setae on segments short, sparse and uniform in length; terminal segment with long apical seta. Male antennae: flagellar segments long, slender; setae on segments very long; terminal segment lacks both the attenuated apex and the long apical seta. Subgenital plate lobe bearing small apical setae. Dorsal valve of gonapophyses sub-rectangular, external valve trianguloid. Hypandrium incipiently bilobed posteriorly. Phallosome simple, frame ovoid without sclerites.

Type species: Latrobiella fenestrata Schmidt and Thornton.

Remarks. Thornton (1981) applied principal co-ordinates analysis on selected characters to identify groups of philotarsid species, which subsequently formed the basis for establishing Latrobiella . The two New Zealand species, Aaroniella parda Thornton, Wong and Smithers and Aaroniella basipunctata Thornton, Wong and Smithers , did not associate consistently with any group. Thornton placed both species in Latrobiella , regarding them as aberrant members of the genus. Along with the recently described Latrobiella fenestrata and a new species here described below they now appear to form a close-knit species group within Philotarsopsis (of which Latrobiella is a synonym). The four species possess features in common contrasting them from other species within the genus. The fore wings are strongly pigmented, and vein cu 2 glabrous. The flagellar segments of the antennae are long and slender. In contrast, other species of Philotarsopsis possess nearly hyaline fore and hind wings, and vein cu 2 of the fore wing is setose. The antennae are shorter and segments thicker. The setae on the female flagellar segments vary in length and thickness, those of the male are short, dense and uniform. On the terminal segment both sexes possess an attenuated apex with a long apical seta.

Of the four species, parda is the most distinctive as it possesses antennal segments with white apices and the female has an attenuated apex (as does basipunctata ) on the terminal segment. The subgenital plate lobe has two long apical setae, and the external valve of the gonapophyses is oval. The hypandrium apex is smoothly rounded. Both fenestrata and basipunctata have fore wing setae sited on dark spots, but in the latter species the spots are only in the basal half of the wing. The Chilean species P.cruciclypeus (New and Thornton) has features which place it between the two groups of species. The female antennal apex is attenuated, bearing a long seta ( New and Thornton 1981: 165, fig. 58 – noted incorrectly as the apical segment of male antenna) and the flagellar setae appear uniform and short. The flagellar setae of the male ( New and Thornton 1981: 165, fig 57 – noted incorrectly as the apical segment of the female antenna) are long, the apex not attenuated but bearing a long seta. The lengths of the 2 basal flagellar segments suggest the antenna is long and slender. Vein cu 2 is glabrous, but the fore wing is not pigmented. On the balance of diagnostic features however, cruciclypeus , along with parda , basipunctata , and fenestrata , are here formally transferred to Abelopsocus .

Etymology. The generic name is a combination of the name Abel, after the Dutch seafarer, explorer, and merchant Abel Tasman, and Psocus , a genus of Psocidae .

Abelopsocus basipunctatus (Thornton, Wong and Smithers) comb. nov.

Aaroniella basipunctata Thornton, Wong and Smithers, 1977: 204 .

Latrobiella basipunctata . --- Thornton, 1981: 433.

Philotarsopsis basipunctata . --- Lienhard and Smithers, 2002: 334.

Distribution. New Zealand.