Unknown Bark Louse - Tapinella

Moved

Moved from Barklice, Booklice, and Parasitic Lice.

… Aaron Hunt, 17 February, 2017 - 5:14pm

Would you try and collect more from that same site??

You may even find males and macropterous females. Take a look at the other Tapinalla species on BugGuide and you will get a idea about the appearance of the other forms. Also, would you consider sending me some live specimens in the shredded material you caught them in? I would like to rear some for behavioral studies. Thanks or posting this!

… Diane Young, 3 February, 2017 - 10:28am

Thank you

so very much for the identification. I am still looking through the invertebrate sample that I collected from the nesting material on January 13th. There was only one gal bag of the fiber, and I ran all of it through the Berlese funnel on the day it was collected. I'm pretty sure there is at least one other specimen like this one in the sample. But there may be more. I'll continue looking through the sample this week and let you know what I discover.

Since I have no additional fiber, I cannot send you material that would have any living specimens. I could send you an alcohol preserved sample if it is returned and isn't dissected.

My job as a volunteer at the not-for-profit Conservancy of Southwest Florida in Naples is to document every living species I can photograph that lives in an 8-acre gopher tortoise preserve. The entire collection needs to remain together and intact for future studies.

… Susan Leach Snyder, 3 February, 2017 - 1:00pm

I hope you do find more specimens of this species.

More pictures of additional specimens would help. This looks like either a new species or a species previously only reported from Mexico. I wonder if whomever is in charge of the project might consider this a situation for "future studies"?

… Diane Young, 3 February, 2017 - 2:10pm

You find the coolist critters!

This is a species of Tapinella. I am going to send this to Dr. Mockford or his opinion. So unusual! Is there any chance you would send me the specimen in alcohol? I promise to return it.

… Diane Young, 2 February, 2017 - 6:41pm