Mesopsocus fuscifrons Meinander, 1966

Lienhard, Charles & Mifsud, David, 2015, Psocids from Malta (Insecta: Psocodea: ‘ Psocoptera’), with new synonymy for Peripsocus stagnivagus based on the discovery of its first Palaearctic male, Zootaxa 3936 (2), pp. 251-260 : 258

Mesopsocus fuscifrons Meinander, 1966

Material examined. Malta, Birkirkara, Mrieħel, 1. i.2015, 1 ♀, on bark of Ceratonia siliqua , DF; same data but 11. i.2015, 1 male nymph (last instar), DM.

Notes. A new record for the Maltese Islands. This is a rather uncommon species but is widely distributed in the West Palaearctic Region, with records from Morocco, Algeria, Italy, Macedonia and France ( Lienhard 1998); it was recently found also in Sweden ( Svensson & Hall 2010). It is a cortical species that lives on various trees and shrubs, especially on those having deciduous leaves. The variability of colouration in M. fuscifrons has been discussed by Lienhard (1998). The Maltese female shows the typical dark frontal pigmentation and the dark brown sub-basal transversal ring on the tibiae; and the V-shaped patches on the eyes are very distinct, as figured by Lienhard (1998: fig. 113c) and Svensson & Hall (2010: figs on pp. 148-149). The colouration of the eyes is identical in the male nymph but the dark frontal pigmentation and the sub-basal tibial rings are less distinct than in the female.