Family PHILOTARSIDAE
Compiler and date details
C.N. Smithers Australian Museum, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Introduction
Of the five genera and 98 species in the Philotarsidae, three genera and 21 species are listed for the Australian fauna, including Christmas Island (Smithers 1995). They are mostly inhabitants of bark.
Philotarsids have 13-segmented antennae and nearly always 3-segmented tarsi; the claws have a tooth. The venation is similar to that of the Caeciliidae. In the forewing the branches of the veins have more than one row of setae with M+CuA having one row; many of the marginal setae cross each other. The gonapophyses have a narrow ventral valve, a large, broad dorsal valve, somewhat rectangular without a strong preapical lobe and a large setose external valve. When the phallosome has sclerifications of the penial bulb they are not in the form of strong rods but usually take the form of rugose areas. All species for which information is available lay their eggs singly, encrusted with debris and covered with a few silken threads.
General References
Enderlein, G. 1903. Die Copeognathen des indo-australischen Faunengebietes. Annales Historico-Naturales Musei Nationalis Hungarici (Zoologica) 1: 179-344 12 figs pls iii-xiv
Smithers, C.N. 1996. Psocoptera. pp. 1-79 in Wells, A. (ed.). Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Vol. 26. Psocoptera, Phthiraptera, Thysanoptera. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing xiii 418 pp.
Thornton, I.W.B. 1980. Plate tectonics and the distribution of the insect family Philotarsidae (Order Psocoptera) in the southwest Pacific. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 31: 250-266 13 figs
Thornton, I.W.B. 1981. The systematics, phylogeny and biogeography of the psocopteran family Philotarsidae. Systematic Entomology 6: 413-452 54 figs
Thornton, I.W.B. & New, T.R. 1977. The Philotarsidae (Insecta: Psocoptera) of Australia. Australian Journal of Zoology Supplementary Series 54: 1-62 147 figs