Holotype: MHNG; male (several parts slide-mounted, but head and thorax partly in alcohol); Cameroon, Center Province, 20 km E of Yaounde, Soa, 630 m a.s.l., 3°59'N 11°35'E; 14.xi.2005; leg. D. Burckhardt #3.

Diagnosis: This species differs from all known species of the genus by its characteristic forewing pattern and by the presence of some thickened postero-lateral setae on male epiproct.

Etymology: This beautifully coloured species is dedicated to its collector, Dr Daniel Burckhardt, eminent specialist of psyllids, who kindly deposited the type specimen in the Psocoptera collection of the MHNG.

Description

General characters: Macropterous (Fig. 1A-B), forewing relatively wide (FW/FWw = 2.7). Body medium brown to dark reddish brown, abdomen ventrally yellowish to light brown, terminalia brown, forewing (Fig. 1A) strikingly patterned, veins brown, hindwing (Fig. 1B) with weakly developed pattern, legs medium to dark brown with whitish trochanter. Compound eyes dark brown (observed after two years in alcohol), ocelli well developed, head capsule without particular sculpturation (its surface finely granulate), strongly flattened anteroposteriorly, thus vertex sharply rounded. Antennae and maxillary palps lost. Lacinial tip (Fig. 1D) strongly divergent apically, trifid, with relatively long outer tine. Pretarsal claws simple, symmetrical, with a small preapical denticle and a series of tiny plantar microtrichia (Fig. 1C). Hind leg with well-developed coxal organ, tibia relatively short (T only about 1.5x longer than F and 1.8x longer than t1). Forewing with short but conspicuous hairs on margin (except basal portion of hind margin) and slightly longer hairs on veins (except CuP). Hindwing bare, anal vein simple.

Male terminalia: Clunium simple. Epiproct (Fig. 1E) posteriorly on each side with four not very long but clearly thickened setae. Paraproct (Fig. 1E) with a sensorium of six trichobothria on vague basal florets, a stout anal seta on hind margin, a much thinner marginal seta ventrally to it and a tiny setal sensillum near to the latter. Hypandrium and phallosome as in Fig. 1F (pilosity of hypandrium dense and long, not shown in this figure), apex of hypandrium dorsally directed in lateral view, basal struts of phallosome strongly diverging anteriorly. Female: Not known.

Measurements: Male (holotype): BL = 1.5 mm; FW = 2.0 mm; FWw = 0.73 mm; HW = 1.6 mm; F = 450 µm; T = 690 µm; t1 = 375 µm; t2 = 71 µm; t3 = 65 µm; IO/D = 1.8.

Distribution: Cameroon (only known from the type locality: Soa, 20 km E of Yaounde).

Remarks: This species is closely related to Psyllipsocus ornatus Badonnel, 1973, described from Angola. P. ornatus has a very similar lacinial tip and venation and pilosity of the forewing, and a patterned forewing, but it differs from the new species by details of male genitalia and forewing pattern (especially basal half of the wing colourless except for the uniformly brown anal cell) and by the absence of the thickened postero-lateral setae on epiproct (see Badonnel, 1973: figs 1-6). These two closely related species form a small group within the genus Psyllipsocus, here called the ornatus species group. P. dorae Badonnel, 1973, also known from Angola, is here also assigned to this group due to the presence of well-developed hairs on forewing margin and similar wing venation and male genitalia; but its lacinial tip is less divergent and the forewing membrane is almost uniformly tinged with brown, with a very indistinct darker pattern in apical half (see Badonnel, 1973: figs 8-14).

Holotype: NMNW; male (slide-mounted); Namibia, Brandberg, Hungorob Valley, Bushy Karoo-Namib shrubland, 1180 m a.s.l.; Malaise trap, 2-5.iv.1999; leg. S. van Noort & S. G. Compton (sample NA99-M04).

Paratypes: MHNG and NMNW; 1 male (sample NA99-M03); same data as for holotype. – 2 males (sample NA99-M12); Namibia, Brandberg, Messum Valley, Bushy Karoo-Namib shrubland, 700 m a.s.l.; Malaise trap, 5-17.iv.1999; leg. S. van Noort & S. G. Compton.

Other material: MHNG; 1 specimen lacking abdomen (sample NA99-M04); same data as for holotype.

Diagnosis: This species is characterized by the morphology of male genitalia, especially the distal part of the phallosome differentiated as two pairs of parallel sclerotized struts.

Etymology: The species epithet refers to Namibia, the country of the type locality.

Description

General characters: Macropterous (Fig. 1G-H), forewing relatively narrow (FW/FWw = 3.1). Body light to medium brown, abdomen whitish, terminalia light brown, legs light brown. Wings (Fig. 1G-H) hyaline, with almost colourless veins. Compound eyes reddish brown (observed after six years in alcohol), ocelli well developed, head capsule without particular sculpturation (its surface finely granulate), not strongly flattened anteroposteriorly, thus vertex normally rounded. Antennal flagella damaged or lost, maxillary palp (Fig. 1L) whitish, P2 lacking conical sensillum, P4 slender and very slightly hatchet shaped. Lacinial tip (Fig. 1I) weakly diverging apically, trifid, outer tine not particularly long or curved. Pretarsal claws simple, symmetrical, with a small preapical denticle and a series of tiny plantar microtrichia. Hind leg with well-developed coxal organ, tibia relatively long (T about 1.8x longer than F and 2.5x longer than t1). Forewing lacking conspicuous marginal hairs but with short hairs on veins, except CuP (as usual in the genus Psyllipsocus), AP particularly long and narrow. Hindwing bare, anal vein bifurcate.

Male terminalia: Clunium and epiproct simple. Paraproct with a sensorium of six trichobothria on vague basal florets and a rigid anal spine on posterior margin (Fig. 1K), not articulated at its base. Hypandrium and phallosome as in Fig. 1J, basal struts of phallosome strongly diverging anteriorly, distal structures of phallosome differentiated as two pairs of parallel struts. Female: Not known.

Measurements: Male (holotype): BL = 1.7 mm; FW = 1.7 mm; FWw = 0.55 mm; HW = 1.4 mm; F = 386 µm; T = 705 µm; t1 = 287 µm; t2 = 56 µm; t3 = 60 µm; IO/D = 1.4.

Distribution: Namibia (only known from Brandberg, the type locality).

Remarks: Based on the very characteristic differentiation of the distal structures of the phallosome this species seems to occupy a rather isolated position within the genus Psyllipsocus. The following African species of this genus have also hyaline wing membranes: P. ramburii Selys-Longchamps, 1872 and P. yucatan Gurney, 1943, both widely distributed, and P. spinosus Badonnel, 1955, only known from Angola. The macropterous form of P. ramburii is characerized by the absence of an R1-Rs crossvein which is present in the other two species and in P. namibiensis sp. nov. P. spinosus is characterized by the very short tines of the lacinial tip. In P. ramburii, P. spinosus and P. namibiensis sp. nov. a non-articulated anal spine is differentiated on the paraproctal hind margin, while this structure is replaced by a normally inserted stout seta in P. yucatan (for figures see Badonnel, 1955: figs 27-31; Lienhard, 1998: 37-38; Lienhard & Ferreira, 2015: figs 2-6).