Peripsocus parvulus Kolbe, 1880

• PERIPSOCUS Hagen,1866
• parvulus Kolbe, 1880

• Peripsocus alboguttatus var. parvulus Kolbe, 1880
• Peripsocus parvulus Kolbe. Kolbe, 1882

• The species is best distinguished from other Peripsocus species by genital characteristics: females by the subgenital plate pattern; males by the shape of the phallosome and sclerites.
• Although the keys in Lienhard (1998)’s and New (2005)’s handbooks state that the base colour of wings (both macropterous and brachypterous) is pale to medium brown, the wings of the macropterous male specimens caught in Derbyshire were virtually colourless. This, taken with the small size of specimens (compared to other Peripsocus species) gave them a superficial resemblance to an Ectopsocus species lacking the usual dark marks where the veins meet the wing margins.
• The males are always macropterous whereas the majority of females are brachypterous.

• Number of pre-1980 records = 1
• Number of post-1980 records = 3

For many years this species was included on the British list based on a single record from the New Forest (McLachlan, 1890), but in 2006 the species was found at three sites in Derbyshire and Monmouthshire. The four records are:

1. Lyndhurst, New Forest, R. McLachlan, 31/8-1/9/1890; McLachlan found the species in substantial numbers together in the same area: about two dozen specimens on a paling. He noted that the males were macropterous; the females were mainly brachypterous though he thought he had a number that were macropterous.
2. South Darley, Derbyshire, R.E. Saville, 31/7/2006; 1 brachypterous female on a yew bush.
3. Near Stanton in Peak, Derbyshire, R.E. Saville, 1/8/2006; a large number of specimens were recorded on a row of oak trees lining a road near Stanton in Peak. 24 males and 15 females were found on the trunks of the trees while one male and two females were found by beating the branches. All the males were macropterous while all the females were brachypterous.
4. Cwm Clydach NNR, Monmouthshire, K.N.A. Alexander, 5/9/2006; two brachypterous females.

Lienhard (1998) gives the adult period in central Europe as June to October with two generation per year. The species overwinters as an egg.

Summary: recorded on oak trunks and branches, yew branches and on palings (three records).

1. Is the low number of records a reflection of a genuinely localised species or simply under-recording?
2. There is a large gap between the first and second British records (116 years). Has the species lived in Britain continuously over that period?

Lienhard, C. 1998. Psocoptères euro-méditerranéens. Faune de France 83, Paris.

McLachlan, R. 1890. Two species of Psocidae new to Britain. Entomologist’s Monthly Magazine 26: 269-270.

New, T.R. 2005. Psocids Psocoptera (Booklice and barklice). Handbooks for the Identification of British Insects 1 (7) second edition, 146pp. Royal Entomological Society.