Neopsocopsis Badonnel

Liu, Lu-Xi, Yoshizawa, Kazunori, Li, Fa-Sheng & Liu, Zhi-Qi, 2012, A review of the genus Neopsocopsis (Psocodea, " Psocoptera ", Psocidae), with one new species from China, ZooKeys 203, pp. 27-46 : 28-29

Neopsocopsis Badonnel

Neopsocopsis Badonnel, 1936: 420. Type species: Psocus hirticornis Reuter, 1893: 42, original designation.

Pentablaste Li, 2002: 1367. Type species: Pentablaste obconica Li, 2002. Synonymy: Yoshizawa, 2010: 24.

General characters.

Small to medium sized psocids. Antennae short, not reaching tip of fore wing. Wings membranous, usually hyaline with brownish tinge; fore wing normal in both sexes or brachypterous in female; fore wing Rs and M meeting at point, fused for short distance or connected by crossvein, areola postica pentagonous, first and second sections of Cu1a forming obtuse angle about 120°. Male abdomen with distal segments dark brown colored, 8th sternum broadly sclerotized and fused to hypandrium, with lateral margins overlapping clunium; epiproct round, dorsally with sclerotized projection at middle of anterior margin; hypandrium symmetrical and 5-lobed, with posteromedian lobe forming dorsal-curved structure, pair of lateral lobes carinate with outer surface covering denticles, and pair of internal lobes rod-like or expanded; phallosome free posteriorly, anteriorly fused or connected by membrane. Female subgenital plate with sclerotized arms forming flat V-shaped regions and expanded laterally, egg guide relatively long; ventral valve of gonapophyses distally tapering to slender tip, outer valve with well developed posterior lobe.

Distribution.

China; Finland; France; Germany; Hungary; Italy; Japan; Macedonia; Mongolia; Romania; Russia; Serbia; Spain; Sweden; Switzerland.

Remarks.

The genus Neopsocopsis is placed in the subfamily Amphigerontiinae mainly based on the following characters: male 8th sternum broadly sclerotized and fused to hypandrium, with lateral margins overlapping clunium ( Yoshizawa et al. 2011); hypandrium symmetrical with various projections; phallosome free posteriorly; female subgenital plate with prominent egg guide plate and ventral valve of gonapophyses tapering distally (also observed in some other genera of Psocinae). Neopsocopsis can be easily distinguished from genera in Amphigerontiinae by the 5-lobed hypandrium as well as the carinate and dentigerous lateral lobes, which are considered to be an autapomorphy of the genus. In addition, the shape and sclerotization pattern of the female subgenital plate are also distinct in Amphigerontiinae. Described based on a single male specimen from China, Pentablaste pentasticha (Li, 1990) apparently lacks the above characters, and it appears to correspond more closely to the generic characters of Neoblaste in genitalic details. However, classification of this species cannot be confirmed until more samples are analyzed, and we do not discuss Pentablaste pentasticha in this work.

One Indonesian genus, Javablaste Endang, Thornton & New, 2002, shared many generic characters of Neopsocopsis and was different from the latter by 1) female with normal fore wing, 2) subgenital plate with transverse sclerotized bar at mid line and 3) male hypandrium with lateral spinous lobes ( Endang et al. 2002). However, as discussed above, the brachypterous fore wing is not a stable character of Neopsocopsis . Later, in 2010, Endang and New recorded three new species of Javablaste from Sumatra, Indonesia, including Javablaste darmayasai Endang & New, 2010, in which the second condition was not observed. In addition, there is little difference between the terms “tuberculate” or “spinous” in reference to the lateral lobes of the hypandrium. According to Endang and New (2010), the Chinese species, Neopsocopsis flavida , was pointed out to be very similar to speciesof Javablaste with minor genitalic differences. It is strong possible that Javablaste is also a junior synonym of Neopsocopsis .