What Do Psocids Look Like? - The Australian Museum

Home » What Do Booklice Look Like » What Do Psocids Look Like? - The Australian Museum

Maybe your like

Skip to main content Skip to acknowledgement of country Skip to footer
Psocoptera Click to enlarge image
Toggle Caption Psocid (Order Psocoptera) Image: Andrew Howells © Australian Museum

Psocids, sometimes known as 'booklice, belong to the Order Order Psocoptera.

What do psocids look like?

Size:

  • Less than 1 mm - 10 mm in length, but most are shorter than 5 mm.

Body:

  • Ovoid or abdomen swollen making it look like a lopsided dumb-bell;
  • Some flattened as if pressed from above;
  • Front of head bulges like a big round nose;
  • Appears soft and fragile.

Antennae:

  • Thread-like, usually longer than half their body length.

Eyes:

  • Small to large, prominent and well separated.

Mouthparts:

  • For chewing or munching; held downwards at rest.

Wings:

  • Two (males only) pairs if present.
  • Both pairs membranous and clear,
  • Forewing usually wider and longer than hindwing.
  • Forewing venation simple, few cross-veins forming inconsistent shaped cells, with 'S-shaped' veins.
  • Wings usually extend beyond abdomen but some species have shortened wings.
  • At rest, wings held tent-like over body; hindwing hidden.

Limbs:

  • Six legs, short and stocky.

Abdomen tip:

  • Cerci (tails) absent.

Where are psocids and booklice found?

  • On or under vegetation, bark, rocks or leaf litter.
  • Some are found in houses such as booklice.

What do psocids and booklice do?

  • They are solitary or group together (eg. some species of Myopsocus).
  • When disturbed they run or fly away.
  • They are weak fliers, flying for short bursts then landing soon after. They primarily graze on microflora such as algae, lichens, and fungi and bits of plant or insect debris. They are an important group for breaking down microflora into units useful for other organisms in the food web.
  • They are active during the day.

What looks similar?

  • Psyllids can be separated from psocids by a number of features including: they often have large bulbous backward-pointing spines on hindcoxae ('thighs'); frontal region of head is divided vertically, so there are two halves of the facial region; first segment of antennae that attaches to head is enlarged and shaped like a doughnut; they jump when disturbed instead of running or flying.
  • Waxy-wings are a group of lacewings that do not have obvious forking of their wing veins. They can be distinguished from psocids as their wing veins are nearly straight or if bent curve in one direction only and their antennae are bead-like.
  • Springtails can be mistaken for psocids. They can be distinguished by a lack of wings and obvious mouthparts, a forked springing organ from tip of abdomen or if the organ is not obvious a siphon tube arising from their 'chest'. They also jump when disturbed.
Back to top of main content Go back to top of page

Also in this section

  • Hemiptera What do psyllids look like?
  • Blattodea What do cockroaches look like?
  • Bugs, planthopper Common and unusual nymphs Both nymphs and adults are strong jumpers.
  • Megaloptera What do alderflies and dobsonflies look like?
  • Entomology Collection Area What is an invertebrate?
  • True bug What do true bugs look like?
  • Ant, Order Hymenoptera, family Formicidae What do ants look like?
  • Map of Earth What is a habitat?
  • Orthoptera Identification of grasshoppers, locusts, crickets and katydids
  • Neuroptera What do lacewings look like?
  • Funnel-web Hadronyche sp What is a parasite?
  • Charles Darwin's first diagram of an evolutionary tree What is natural selection?

You may also be interested in...

Ephemeroptera

What do mayflies look like?

Mayflies belong to the Order Ephemeroptera.

Average wingspan Discover more Strepsiptera

What do stylops look like?

Stylops belong to the Order Strepsiptera.

Discover more Pseudoscorpionida

What do pseudoscorpions look like?

Pseudoscorpions or 'false scorpions' belong to the Order Pseudoscorpionida.

Discover more Blattodea

What do cockroaches look like?

Cockroaches belong to the Order Blattodea.

Discover more Mantodea

What do praying mantids look like?

Praying mantids belong to the Order Mantodea.

Discover more Phasmatodea

What do stick insects look like?

Stick and leaf insects, often called phasmids, are insects that eat leaves and resemble sticks or leaves.

Discover more Diptera

What do flies look like?

The true flies belong to the Order Diptera and include many common insects such as mosquitoes, midges, sand flies, blowflies and the House Fly.

Discover more Thysanoptera

What do thrips look like?

Thrips belong to the Order Thysanoptera.

Discover more Siphonaptera

What do fleas look like?

Fleas belong to the Order Siphonaptera.

Discover more Neuroptera

What do lacewings look like?

Lacewings are solitary but they may group together or swarm during mating.

Discover more True bug

What do true bugs look like?

True bugs belong to the Order Hemiptera, suborder Heteroptera. True bugs include bugs such as plant bugs, stink bugs, water bugs and shield bugs.

Discover more Collembola

What do springtails look like?

Springtails belong to the Order Collembola.

Discover more You have reached the end of the main content. Go back to start of main content Go back to top of page Back to top You have reached the end of the page. Thank you for reading. Photo of two painted shields

The Australian Museum respects and acknowledges the Gadigal people as the First Peoples and Traditional Custodians of the land and waterways on which the Museum stands.

Image credit: gadigal yilimung (shield) made by Uncle Charles Chicka Madden

Close modal dialog Search website Submit Search Close Modal Dialog Close Modal Dialog Close Modal Dialog Close Modal Dialog

Tag » What Do Booklice Look Like