Suborder Trogiomorpha
Suborder Troctomorpha
Suborder Psocomorpha
Infraorder Atropetae
Family LEPIDOPSOCIDAE
Subfamily Thylacellinae
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Thylacella cubana (Banks) 1941
Size: 2.5 mm. Range: This is the only species of the genus in the Western Hemisphere. Known only from females. It has been collected around Brownsville, TX and penninsular Florida. Outside the U.S. it occurs in Cuba, Mexico,
Guatemala and Belize. Habitat: persistent dead leaves of various
plants,especially palms, also on trunks and branches of trees.
Subfamily Lepidopsocinae
Echmepteryx hageni (Packard) 1870
Size: ~ 3 mm. Range outside Texas: Eastern U.S. west to Arkansas and eastern Canada. Habitat: Bark
and leaves of
deciduous trees and on exposed outcrops. Males are rare
except at a few sites in the U.S.
Subfamily Echinopsocinae
Neolepolepis occidentalis (Mockford) 1955
Size: male 2.2 mm, female 2.3 mm. Range outside Texas: Eastern
U.S.; less common in the southwest. Known from both sexes. Habitat:
Woodland leaf litter and dead hanging leaves. Image of the rare macropterous female by Ben Gruver. A similar species,
Neolepolepis xerica (Garcia Aldrete) occurs in Mexico.
Family TROGIIDAE
Cerobasis guestfalica (Kolbe) 1880
Size: 1.5 mm. Cosmopolitan. Habitat: Deciduous and evergreen trees and stone
outcrops. Identified by the anchor shaped mark on the frons. Most
populations are parthenogenetic.
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Lepinotus reticulatus Enderlein 1905
Size: ~ 1.2 mm. Range: Cosmopolitan. Habitat: Leaf litter,
granaries, bird and mammal nests. Winglets
with a distinctive reticulate pattern. The wings are easily dislodged.
This obligate parthenogen can become a pest in stored food products.
Trogium pulsatorium (Linnaeus) 1758
Size: ~ 1.7 - 2.0 mm. Range: Not common; found primarily in the
northeastern U. S. Outside the U S., it occurs in South America, Europe, Australia and Asia. Habitat: Can occur in grain mills, bird nests, even
herbaria.
I have only found it on palms (Sabal
minor). In this image by Jens Oldenburg, the female is to the left.
Family PSOQUILLIDAE
Rhyopsocus bentonae Sommerman 1956
Size: male 1.03 mm, female 1.18 mm Range outside Texas:
throughout penninsular Florida, Atlantic Coast to Brunswick GA, around Gulf Coast to Texas, southern and southeastern Mexico. Habitat: dead leaves of palm, yucca and Typha. In this photo the male is on the left. I call this one the "Hobbit psocid".
Family PSYLLIPSOCIDAE
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Dorypteryx domestica (Smithers) 1958
Size: ~ 2 mm. Range outside Texas: eastern U.S., central Europe,
England, Africa and South America. It is only known from domestic situations such as basements. This species is known from both sexes.
Image by Patrick-Emmanual Boulanger-Nadeau.
Psocathropos lachlani (Enderlein) 1903
Size: ~ 1.5 mm. Range: Cosmopolitan. It has been recorded in Florida and Texas. Habitat: Often found in buildings, north-facing outer walls of buildings and on natural vegitation. This is a sexual species. The sex of the specimen shown is not known.
Image by Siuyeung Ho.
Psyllipsocus decoratus Mockford 2011
Size: ~ 3 mm. Range: There are records from two sites in Arizona and three sites in Texas. Habitat: Rock outcrops near cave entrances. John Schneider recorded this species on brick walls with a patina of algae and lichens in Houston, TX. This species was described from nymphs collected near a cave entrance in Cochise Co., AZ.
The sex of the specimen shown is unknown.
Image by Turner Brockman.
Psyllipsocus ramburii Selys-Longchamps 1872
Size: ~2 mm Range: cosmopolitan. Females micropterous or
macropterous. Found in caves, cellars and occasionally shaded outcrops. Records: Texas Memorial Museum.
Micropterous image by Matthew Bergeron; macropterous one by Stepen Luk.
Suborder Troctomorpha
Infraorder Amphientometae
Family AMPHIENTOMIDAE
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Lithoseopsis hellmani (Mockford & Gurney) 1956
Size: 3.5 mm Range outide Texas: southern Arizona south to Central
America. - Habitat: Shaded limestone outcrops. This
species is part of a complex of closely related species
found from southern Texas. Known from female only.
Stimulopalpus japonicus Enderlein 1906
Size: ~ 5 mm. Range outside Texas:This species is known from the eastern U.S., Hawaii, Southeast Asia, and India. Habitat: Stone outcrops as well as cement structures with a patina of algae and lichen. This is a parthenogenetic species.
Image by Ashley Bradford.
Infraorder Nanopsocetae
Family LIPOSCELIDIDAE
Subfamily Embidopsocinae
Belaphotroctes sp.
Yes, there are liposcelidids with wings! In this genus mx4 is much wider than mx3. Females may be apteous or macropterous depending on species.
Size: 1.7 mm Range: Winged females have been found in Hays Co. This
specimen was caught sweeping grass. This one is a possible ant mimic.
We hope to find apterous males and females of this species.
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Embidopsocus laticeps Mockford 1963
Size: ~ 1.0 mm Range: Texas- Harris Co.; Gulf Coast Florida to
Texas and in
Bullock Co. Ga. Habitat: under bark of dead trees. Known from males,
macropterors and apterous females.
Photoghaph by Graham Montgomery.
Subfamily Liposcelidinae
Liposcelis Section I
Liposcelis brunnea Motschulsky 1852
Size: ~ 1.1 mm Range: west Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, northeast to Ottowa, Ontario. Habitat: Conifer and oak foilage, and ground litter beneath these trees, bird nests and domestic situations.
Image by George Opit.
Liposcelis deltachi Sommerman 1957
Size: 1.1 mm Range: Texas, southern New
Mexico,
southern Oklahoma; San Luis Potosi, Mexico. Habitat: Foliage of
junipers, pine, yuccas, mesquite and leaf litter.
Known from females only.
Liposcelis entomophila (Enderlein) 1907
Size: ~ 1.1 mm. Range outside Texas: Midwest and southeastern U.S.; fairly cosmopolitan. Habitat: Primarily domestic but also taken in leaf litter. Field collected
specimens (as in leaf litter) mostly tropical and subtropical. Known from male and female.
Liposcelis fusciceps Badonnel 1968
Size: ~ 1.2 mm Range: Texas and Arizona Habitat: grasses and dead vines. Known from female only. Collected in Brazil in the nest of an ant,
Camponotus rufipes.
Dorsal view on the left and ventral on the right. Note "Head medium brown with a slight reddish tinge: palpi colorless".
Liposcelis hirsutoides Mockford 1978
Size: 1.1 mm. Range: central and south Texas and in central-penninsular
Florida. Habitat: woody vegetation and under bark. I find it
especially on lichen covered banches of Mesquite. Known from both
sexes but I have yet to photograph a male.
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Liposcelis ornata Mockford 1978
Size: 1.2 mm. Range: Gulf Coast from Florida to Texas and in the
Mexican states of San Luis Potosi and Tabasco. Known from female only.
Habitat: Great variety of trees and shrubs. I have found in in leaf
litter and dead palm fronds.
Liposcelis pearmani Lienhard 1990
Size: ~ 1.1 mm. Range: Texas- Hays Co.
Relatively cosmopolitan; recorded
from several U. S. states including Texas. Habitat: Domestic; also
found in bird nests, under bark and
sweeping grass. This species is known from both sexes.
Liposcelis pallida Mockford 1978
Size: ~ 1 mm. Range: Texas- Blanco Co.;
Known from the Davis Mts. of Texas
and Catalina Mts. of Arizona. The specimen pictured was collected at
Flat Creek (Blanco Co.). Habitat: Dead persistent leaves of yucca; leaf
litter. Known from both sexes.
Liposcelis Section II
Liposcelis bostrychophila Badonnel 1931
Size: ~ 1.0 mm Range outside Texas: Cosmopolitan.
Habitat: under bark, bird nests, stored grain, old books,
chicken litter. Known only from females. If there is a classic
booklouse, this is it. Sexual populations (which may represent a different species) have been reocrded in Arizona and Hawaii.
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Family PACHYTROCTIDAE
Nanopsocus oceanicus Pearman 1928
Size: ~ macropterous female, 1.5 mm., apteous female 1.0 mm.
Range: southeastern U. S. north to Illinois; also Mexico, Central
America, West Indies, West and Central Africa, Japan and South Pacific Islands . Habitat: Occurs on dead leaves of palms, bamboos and grasses.
See frame below for macropterous female.
Nanopsocus oceanicus mac female
Macropterous females brown; apterous females creamy white; males (apterous) creamy white but with a reddish brown stripe along anterior margin of abdominal terga 2-7. This genus is
characterized by a foliate shaped hind tarsal claw on each foot.
Peritroctes bengalensis Thornton 1966
Size: 1.1 mm. Range: First recorded from the Botanical Gardens of
Calcutta, India by Ian W. B. Thornton and S. K. Wong, Trans Royal Entomol Soc London, 118(1):1-21, 1966. Habitat: leaf
litter, dead palm fronds, dead persistent leaves. This species has been introduced into Texas.
Tapinella maculata Mockford and Gurney 1956
Size: male ~ 1 mm, female ~ 1.5 mm. Range: Central Texas to
lower Rio Grande Valley, Mexico and South America. Habitat: dead
palm and grass leaves Known from males, macropterous and apterous females.
See frame below for macropterous female.
Tapinella maculata... continued
The macropterous
female (length 1.7 mm) is, in my
experience, rarer than the apterous one. In this family,
the wings are held flat over the abdomen, not roof-like as in the
Psocomorpha. Dr.
Mockford says that this individual from Gonzales Co. shows much more
patterning on the head than specimens in far south Texas.
Tapinella sp. "Type 2"
Size: male ~ 1.1 mm, female ~ 1.3 mm Range: unknown Habitat: Leaf litter This un-described species lacks the backwards "U" shaped marks along the lateral edge of the abdomen. This species often occurs with
Tapinella maculata.
See frame below for macropterous female.
The images on this row depict the macropterous form of Tapinella sp. Type 2. These individuals possess ocelli while the apterous morphs do not.
Family SPHAEROPSOCIDAE
Sphaeropsocus bicolor Mockford 2013
Size: 0.7 mm Range: single site Habitat: leaf litter This species has not been found in Texas but it is so remarkable that I had to include it. This species was discovered by Tim King. "It is the first living species of its genus, known otherwise only from
Sphaeropsocus kuenowii Hagen, a fossil species from the Baltic amber (Eocene)." Mockford, E.L., A New species of Sphaeropsocus Hagen from south eastern U. S.: the first living species of its genus, Life: the Excitement of Biology 1(2): 100-111.
Suborder Psocomorpha
Infraorder Archipsocetae
Family ARCHIPSOCIDAE
Archipsocus sp.
Archipsocus specimens are found along the Gulf coast from Florida to Texas and in Mexico. They can occur in Texas as far inland as Travis Co. I have not yet identified this species. These specimens were found at Palmetto State Park. There are three described species which
might occur on the Texas coast:
Archipsocus floridanus,
A. gurneyi, and
A. nomas. The webbing from these psocids often covers entire tree trunks and causes a media sensation.
Infraorder Caeciliusetae
Caeciliusidae
Stenopsocidae
Amphipsocidae
Dasydemellidae
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Family CAECILIUSIDAE
Stenocaecilius antillanus (Banks) 1938
Size: 2.8 mm Range: From south Florida, south Texas, Mexico, Surinam and Cuba Habitat: Found on dead foliage of palms, grasses and cycads This species is parthenogenetic. This specimen was collected in Kingsville, TX.
Stenocaecilius casarum (Badonnel) 1931
Size: ~ 3.5 mm
Range: outside Texas:
Gulf Coast from south Florida to the Rio Grande Valley. Wide range in
the tropics including Mexico, Guatemala & Venezuela. Habitat:
Living or dead palm foilage. With the exception of a single male taken in Guyana, this species consists only of females.
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Valenzuela indicator Mockford 1969
Size: ~ 4 mm, Range outside Texas: Florida, Georgia, and Cuba. Habitat: found on various trees including oaks, palms and
on Sapnish moss.
Images by Robert Zimlich.
Valenzuela manteri (Sommerman) 1943
Size: ~ 3 mm Range outside Texas: eastern U. S. records in Minnesota, Missouri and Nebraska. Habitat: dead leaves of cattail, corn and palmetto. This species was described by Kathryn M. Sommerman
in "Description and bionomics of
Caecilius manteri", Proc. Ent. Soc. of Washington, 45(2): 9-39, 1943 with marvelous illustrations. Males are rare in this species.
Valenzuela micanopi (Mockford) 1965
Size: male 3.0 mm, female 3.2 mm Range outside Texas: throughout Florida, southeast Alabama and on Bimini Island and the Bahamas. Habitat: dead leaves of
Sabal and
Coccothrinax.
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Valenzuela nadleri Mockford 1966
Size: male 2.6 mm, female 2.7 mm. Range: eastern US, west to Wisconsin and Missouri, also SE Canada. Recent records extend range westward. Habitat: leaf litter. Females dimorphic- macropterous and micropterous.
See frame below for micropterous female.
This is an image of the micropterous female by Jean Brodeur of Canada. This female morph looks very similar to the micropterous female of
Valenzuela posticus. Micropterous females of
V. nadleri, however,
have dark antennae all the way to the tip. Both occur in leaf litte
Valenzuela posticus Banks 1914
Size: male 3-4 mm, micropterous female 2 mm. Range outside Texas- records from Florida, Illinois, Michigan and New York. Females either fully winged or microptreous. The micropterous
V. nadleri which looks very similar has uniformly dark antennae while those of
V. posticus are pale terminally.
Male image by Ken Allen, female image by John F. Carr.
Family DASYDEMELLIDAE
Teliapsocus conterminus (Walsh) 1863
Size: 5.6 mm Range: Throughout most of U.S. and Canada, but absent from northern midwestern states. Habitat: Great variety of broad-leaf and coniferous trees and occasionally ground litter. Not known outside North America.
Male image by Patrick Coin.
Family STENOPSOCIDAE
Infraorder Epipsocetae
Family EPIPSOCIDAE
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Bertkauia crosbyana Chapman 1930
Size: ~ 1.7 mm Range: throughout eastern
U.S., southern
Rocky Mts., northwest Washington state. Mexico: San Cristobal and
Chiapas. Habitat: woodland ground litter Males (very rare)
macropterous, femaes micropterous.
A Disturbance in the Force …
Within the suborder Psocomorpha, the infraorder Homilopsocidea has been a problem. Molecular generic studies have cast doubt on the monophyly of this taxon. A recent elegant study by Oscar Fernando Saenz Manchola, Alfonso Gracía Aldrete, Kevin P. Johnson, and three other authors splits this infraorder into two monophyletic groups: Homilopsocidea 1 (Ectopsocidae and Peripsocidae) and Homilopsocidea 2 (Elipsocidae, Lachesillidae, and Mesopsocidae). I will follow this taxonomic change here.
Homilopsocidea 1
Family ECTOPSOCIDAE
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Ectopsocus meridionalis Ribaga 1904
Size: 2.4 mm Range outside Texas: throughout eastern U.S. south to Florida; central Mexico to Chile, southern Europe, Africa and Japan. Habitat: persistent dead leaves. Known only from female.
Ectopsocus richardsi Pearman 1929
Size: 1.2-1.5 mm Range: Cosmopolitan with records in the U.S. from south Florida and south Texas. Habitat: Generally associated with stored food products, but also found in natural areas. This species exhibits some interesting behavior documented on my YouTube channel "Diane Young Psocoptera"
Ectopsocus vachoni Badonnel 1945
Size: males ~ 1.0 mm, females ~ 1.7 mm Range outside Texas: US Gulf Coast States, California; Mexico, South America, and Europe Habitat: leaf
litter, dried grass and lower foliage of trees. This species is common throughout Texas.
See frame below for micropterous female.
In this species, the males are micropterous and the females are either macropterous or micropterous. The tiny male has a dark clunial comb (visible in a dissecting microscope) which identifies it as mature. Males in this species stridulate several times during courtship as they approach the female. See my YouYube channel: "Diane Young Psocoptera".
Family PERIPSOCIDAE
Peripsocus madidus (Hagen) 1861
Size: ~ 3.2 mm Range outside Texas: Nova Scotia south to Florida and west to central Texas Habitat: bark and branches of broad-leaf and coniferous trees.
The barchypterous form of this species is shown below. I do not find this form in central Texas but did record them from Austin Co.
****
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Peripsocus stagnivagus Chapman 1930
Size: 1.7-2.1 mm. Range: Eastern North America and Europe. Habitat: Trunks and branches of trees, Spanish moss and dead palm fronds. Most populations are parthenogenstic except for areas in Illinois and Texas.
Peripsocus subfasciatus (Rambur) 1842
Size: ~ 2.7 Range outside Texas: eastern U.S., west to Minnesota and Arkansas, Pacific Coast from San Francisco Bay to British Columbia. Habitat: branches of broadleaf and coniferous trees and
shaded stone outcrops. Male virtually absent except in Washington state and Vancouver, British Columbia.
Peripsocus minimus Mockford 1971
Size: ~ 2.0 mm Range outside Texas: southern Illinois
southwestward to Missoiri, Arkansas and central Texas Habitat:
foliage of
Juniperus virginiana and
Juniperus ashei.
Peripsocus sp.
Size: male: ~ 2.2 mm, female ~ 1.5 mm Range: unknown Habitat: Lichen
covered branches of
Quercus
virginiana and Texas persimmon (
Diospyros texana). This is an un-described species in which the female is micropterous.
Infraorder Homilopsocidea 2
Archipsocidae
Family LACHESILLIDAE
Andra Group
Corona Group
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Lachesilla michiliensis Garcia Aldrete 1991
Size: ~ 1.5 mm Range outside Texas: Mexico: Durango
State Habitat: under loose bark Known only from female. "This species is neotenic as indicated by the brachyptery, small oceli and almost complete absence of sensory fields on the paraprocts" Garcia Aldrete, A., "Lachesillidae from the Biosphere Reserve 'La Michilia", Durango and Surrounding Areas, Folia Entomologica Mexicana 81: 165-183, 1991.
photograph by Graham Montgomery
Forcepeta Group
Lachesilla forcepeta Chapman 1930
Size: ~ 2.0 mm Range outside Texas: throughout eastern U.S. west to Oklahoma and Kansas and the San Antonio area of Texas. Habitat:
conifers including
Juniperus ashei.
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Pedicularia Group
Lachesilla otomi Mockford 2002
Size: 2 mm Range: From coastal Florida and Texas to Mexico and Central America. Habitat: Dead hanging leaves of native grasses, Palmetto, and various shrubs.
Lachesilla tectorum Badonnel 1931
Size: 2.5 mm Range: Gulf coast, from Florida to Texas, and in the Mexican states of Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon. Habitat: dead leaves of palm
and tall grasses Known from female only.
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Riegeli Group
Rufa Group
Sclera Group
Lachesilla sulcata Garcia Aldrete 1986
Size: ~ 2.0 mm Range outside Texas: Gulf states from Texas to
Florida. Mexico: Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas, Chiapas. Habitat: native
grass.The male of this species was only recently been described
(Garcia Aldrete & Mockford "Reappraisal of Species Group Patzunensis" Proc. Ent. Soc. Washington 113(4): 417-425, 2011.
Infraorder Philotarsetae
Family PHILOTARSIDAE
Aaroniella badonneli (Danks) 1950
Size: ~ 3 mm Range: east Texas, occurs throughout much of the eastern U. S. and north to Ontario, the soviet state of Georgia and the Azores. Habitat: twigs and lichen covered branches of a variety of trees and shrubs. Known only from female.
Family PSEUDOCAECILIIDAE
Pseudocaecilius citricola (Ashmead) 1879
Size: 2.8 mm Range outside Texas: occurs throughout Florida, on the Alabama coast, pan-tropical; is even recorded on the Galapagos Islands; Habitat: living leaves of citrus, evergreen oaks, palms
and other trees. Known from female only.
Family TRICHOPSOCIDAE
Trichopsocus dalii (McLachlan) 1867
Size: ~ 2.8 mm Range outside Texas: this introduced species is found
in states on the Gulf and Atlantic coast of the U.S. and in the Atlantic and Mediteranean coast of Europe and North Africa Habitat: branches of broad leaf trees like citrus, bay,
Ligustrum and
Ilex.
Infraorder Psocetae
Family HEMIPSOCIDAE
Family MYOPSOCIDAE
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Family PSOCIDAE
Amphigerontiinae
Psocinae
Subfamily Amphigerontiinae
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Blaste longipennis (Banks) 1918
Size: ~ 5 mm. Range outside Texas: Yellowstone Natonal Park south to
Chiricahua Mountainsof Arizona. Habitat: Collected on dwarf mistletoe,
Arceuthobuim vaginatum and conifers.
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Subfamily Psocinae
Tribe Cerastipsocini
Cerastipsocus venosus (Burmeister) 1839
Size: male ~ 6 mm female 8mm Range outside Texas:- Maine south to southern Florida; south to Mexico. Habitat: Trunks and brances of broad leaf trees and conifers. Pterostigma of males is dark while those of females are white.
Images by Robert Zimlich.
Cerastipsocus trifasciatus (Provancher) 1876
Size: ~ 6 mm. Range outside Texas: Southestern U.S. continuing through Arkansas to Arizona. Also in Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Columbia. Habitat: Tree trunks and branches and rock outcrops.
Male image by Juan Carlos Garcia Morales, Female image by William Geoghegan.
Tribe Metylophorini
Metylophorus novaescotiae (Walker) 1853
Size: 6-7 mm Range outside Texas: Nova Scotia and coastal Maine to Florida, west to Minnesota. Habitat: Branches of broad-leaf trees and shrubs. Also occurs in Mexico.
Images by Tom Murray.
Tribe Psocini
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Hyalopsocus striatus (Walker) 1853
Size: 5.3 Range outside Texas: Throughout northeastern U.S. and southeast Canada. Occurs spottily in western states. Habitat:
Juniperous ashei This species is characterized by the extensive pigment in cells Cu
2 and IA in the forewing.
Tribe Ptyctini
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Indiopsocus lacteus Mockford & Young 2015
Size: ~ 3.9 Range: endemic to Texas Hill Country. Habitat: lower
bare limbs of living
Juniperus ashei. Recently described in Trans. Am. Entomol. Soc. 141:233-251.
Indiopsocus palmatus Mockford & Young 2015
Size: ~ 3.8 Range : Apparently a Texas endemic. Habitat: braodleaf trees like
Quercus virginiana, Celtis reticulata Ulmus crassifolia and Acacia farnesiana. Recently described in Trans. Am. Entomol. Soc. 141:233-251.
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