Sphaeropsocidae is a
family
Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...
of
Psocodea
Psocodea is a taxonomic group of insects comprising the bark lice, book lice and parasitic lice. It was formerly considered a superorder, but is now generally considered by entomologists as an order. Despite the greatly differing appearance of ...
(formerly
Psocoptera
Psocoptera are a paraphyletic group of insects that are commonly known as booklice, barklice or barkflies. The name Psocoptera has been replaced with Psocodea in recent literature, with the inclusion of the former order Phthiraptera into Psocode ...
), belonging to the
suborder
Order ( la, ordo) is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between family and class. In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and ...
Troctomorpha
Troctomorpha is one of the three major suborders of Psocodea (formerly Psocoptera)(barklice, booklice, and parasitic lice), alongside Psocomorpha and Trogiomorpha. There are more than 30 families and 5,800 described species in Troctomorpha. The ...
.
Females of this family have reduced, beetle-like
elytra
An elytron (; ; , ) is a modified, hardened forewing of beetles (Coleoptera), though a few of the true bugs (Hemiptera) such as the family Schizopteridae are extremely similar; in true bugs, the forewings are called hemelytra (sometimes alterna ...
, and lack
hindwing
Insect wings are adult outgrowths of the insect exoskeleton that enable insects to fly. They are found on the second and third thoracic segments (the mesothorax and metathorax), and the two pairs are often referred to as the forewings and hindwi ...
s, with males have either small or absent wings.
The family comprises 22 known species (four of them fossils) in eight genera.
Taxonomy
* †''
Asphaeropsocites'' Azar et al. 2010
Lebanese amber
Lebanese amber is fossilized resin found in Lebanon and southwest Syria. It dates back approximately 130-125 million years to the Barremian of the Early Cretaceous. It formed on what was then the northern coast of Gondwana, believed to be a tropica ...
, Early Cretaceous (
Barremian
The Barremian is an age in the geologic timescale (or a chronostratigraphic stage) between 129.4 ± 1.5 Ma (million years ago) and 121.4 ± 1.0 Ma). It is a subdivision of the Early Cretaceous Epoch (or Lower Cretaceous Series). It is preceded ...
)
* ''
Badonnelia'' Pearman, 1953 Chile, Recent (except ''Badonnelia titei'', which is found alongside humans in Europe and North America)
[Mockford, Edward L. 2005. "First New World Record for ''Badonnelia Titei'' (Insecta: Psocoptera: Sphaeropsocidae)," ''The Great Lakes Entomologist'', vol 38 (2)
Available at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/tgle/vol38/iss2/1]
*
* ''
Sphaeropsocopsis'' North America,
South America, St Helena, Recent
* ''
Sphaeropsocus''
Baltic amber
The Baltic region is home to the largest known deposit of amber, called Baltic amber or succinite. It was produced sometime during the Eocene epoch, but exactly when is controversial. It has been estimated that these forests created more than 1 ...
,
Eocene
The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene' ...
, Southeastern US (Recent)
* †''
Sphaeropsocites'' Lebanese amber, Early Cretaceous (Barremian)
* †''
Sphaeropsocoides''
Canadian amber
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
, Late Cretaceous (
Campanian
The Campanian is the fifth of six ages of the Late Cretaceous Epoch on the geologic timescale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). In chronostratigraphy, it is the fifth of six stages in the Upper Cretaceous Series. Campanian s ...
)
* ''
Globopsocus''
* ''
Prosphaeropsocus'' California, Recent
* ''
Troglosphaeropsocus'' Arizona, Recent
References
* Lienhard, C. & Smithers, C. N. 2002. Psocoptera (Insecta): World Catalogue and Bibliography. ''Instrumenta Biodiversitatis,'' vol. 5. Museum of Natural History, Geneva, Switzerland.
Psocoptera families
Nanopsocetae
{{Psocoptera-stub