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Photo#184388
Cave Book Louse - Pseudorypteryx mexicana

Cave Book Louse - Pseudorypteryx mexicana
Vail, Pima County, Arizona, USA
May 20, 2008
Size: ~1mm
Found deep in a cave, under rocks. Found in conjunction with pseudoscorpions.

I would LOVE to use this image...
in a book I'm starting on "Psocoptera". Do you still have the original "larger" image? Can I use it?? I tried your email address but it bounced.

You might want to add..
this species was described by Garcia Aldrete

Moved

Probably Pseudorypteryx mexicana Garcia Aldrete
Ed Mockford det.
His comment: "Jillian sent me a specimen, and subsequently, I went collecting with her and a guide to the place where she found it. I took P. mexicana there, and I think this is the nymph."

Moved

Neat.
Moving image to level of "order" because cave-dwelling species can often represent entire families specific to that habitat. Hope we can eventually get something concrete on this little one:-)

wow
Cool... I'd never be able to go spelunking, but that is an interesting find... I wonder what it's feeding on in that cave?
Definitely something esoteric that's worth adding to the guide.

 
Feeding
I don't know what it was feeding on, but I do know what was feeding on it. Each location where we found a bunch of these book lice, we found a pseudoscorpion (Albiorix anophthalmus) hunting in the middle of them.

 
Strange
...

 
Well
You've certainly found something unique and very important.
This will clearly be an invaluable addition to the guide.

If possible (and trust me, don't go risking your life because some 19 year old kid told you to), but it would be interesting to perhapse go back & collect one or two specimens to photograph under better light conditions back on the surface. That or going down to simple get more photos. I'm sure there must be more unique cave-dwellers down there!

If only I wasn't afraid of dark tight spaces... caves are something that would make me paranoid.
Unless i guess I had several people there with me (as one aught to when one goes spelunking).

 
Some progress
I recently photographed what appears to be an adult (it has wings). I've also been in touch with an expert in the field (Ed Mockford) who will be coming out to take a look at the population in this cave. I'll post information as it becomes available.

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