For those of you wondering what a psocid is, it's a member of the Psocoptera order of insects and is commonly known as either booklice, barklice, or barkflies. They eat fungi, algae, lichen, and other organic detritus. Not very large, usually only 0.1 to 0.5 inches long. Jerry. A new species of psocid from Texas caves has recently been described based on specimens in the Texas Memorial Invertebrate Zoological Collection. It is Psyllipsocus subterraneus Mockford. The holotype male was collected at Up the Creek Cave (Bexar Co.) by K. McDermid on 10/22/2008; the allotype female was collected at Strange Little Cave (Bexar Co.) by P. Sprouse and K. McDermid on 10/13/2008.
Specimens of Psyllipsocus maculatus Garcia Aldrete from Niche Cave (Bexar Co.) collected by G. Veni (7/31/1983) and from New Comanche Trail Cave (Travis Co.) collected by James Reddell and M. Reyes (1/26/1989) extends the range of this species north by about 700 km. Reference: Mockford, Edward L., “New Species of Psyllipsocus (Psocoptera: Psyllipsocidae) from North and Middle America with a Key to Species of the Region” , Transactions of the American Entomological Society 137(1-2):15-47, 2011. For more information contact Diane Young: [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) .......... Sam
