#psocoptera

Had a fun blacklighting session last night with the amateur entomologist group, here are a few of my observation pics In order: - A cute, lichen-looking Epinotia I wasn't able to ID to species - Ligyrus (formerly Tomerus) relictus, one of the only dynastinae (rhinoceros beetles) found where I live - Catocala sp., photo wasn't great unfortunately so I'm not sure which out of 2 possible species it is - Habrosyne scripta, fairly common but a beautiful drepanid that's always fun to see - Cisseps fulvicollis, smaller lookalike of the virginia ctenucha - Ischnura verticalis - very common species but I don't often see odonates at light traps - Tropisternus lateralis, a hydrophilid, this species in particular looks a lot like some dytiscids to me but the clubbed antennae are a surefire giveaway for hydrophilidae - Corixidae sp. - Parapoynx badiusalis, good example of how cute crambids are - A really cute ichneumonid, but probably not identifiable from photo - Argyresthia calliphanes - pay attention to micromoths! So many of them are absolutely stunning - Nemapogon sp. (maybe granella?) - Ennomos magnaria - Elophila icciusalis - Cerastipsocus venosus - new species for me, their common name is "tree cattle" and the clusters they form on trees get called herds. Felt really big for a psocodean The area had a lot of habitat variety, with multiple light traps being set near a wetland, forested areas (mainly yellow birch with some other hardwoods, and conifers- mostly balsam fir) and a sandpit. I have a lot more but I also have specimens to get around to pinning so I won't spend too long on posts haha, here's some uncropped photos of the sheets though

@taikavaris submitted: This incredibly tiny fellow appeared on my desk, have seen then around somewhere in the house, too. Who?? SO tiny??

That time when a barklouse photobombed the giant floof

Photo by @purrdence, in Te Whanganui-a-Tara (the Great Harbour of Tara), which is also known as Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand. Wellington is the southernmost capital city in the world, as well as the windiest, so having such a fantastic harbour was probably very fortunate.

AKA Psocus australis, Myopsocus australis, Myopsocus novaezealandiae, and Psocus zelandicus

Most psocids, like the Booklouse, live in damp environments, but the larger and often intricately marked barklice may be found living in groups on treetrunks and branches, grazing on lichen, fungi, pollen and algae. They have a soft body, long thin antennae, broad heads, biting jaws and bulbous eyes. Large species may be 1cm in length. Some species live in organized communities beneath a fine net spun from glands in their mouths.

Insect flight in glorious slow motion!

The North Carolina Museum of Natural Science’s ANT Lab, as part of the Evolutionay Biology & Behaviour Research Lab, has made a spectacular video about insect flight. It’s filmed in juicy slow motion and features orthopteran, coleopterans, dipterans, a hemipteran, and even some psocoptera which are little proto-hemipteran like critters.

The full species, in order of appearance:

nut/acorn weevil (Curculio sp.)

broad-nosed weevil (Asiatic oak weevil Cyrtepistomus castaneus)

Hook-faced Conehead katydid (Pyrgocorypha uncinata)

bush katydid (Scuddderia sp.)

Lesser Angle-wing (Microcentrum retinerve)

Mouse-like Barklouse (Lichenomima sp.)

common barklouse 1 (subfamily: Psocinae)

common barklouse 2 (subfamily: Psocinae)

common barklouse (Cerastipsocus venosus)

March fly (Penthetria heteropteran)