PROC. ENTOMOL. SOC. WASH. 109(3). 2007, pp. 700-714 TAXONOMY OF THE SPECIES OF AMPHIGERONTIA (PSOCOPTERA: PSOCIDAE) OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA Edward L. Mockford and Johannes E. Anonby (ELM) Department of Biological Sciences, Campus Box 4120, Illinois State University, Normal, IL 61790^120, U.S.A. (e-mail:
[email protected]); (JEA) Sognetjordvegen 138, N-6863 Leikanger, Norway (e-mail:
[email protected]) Abstract. — Five species of psocids of the genus Aiuphigerontia Kolbe 1880, are recorded from the Rocky Mountains of the United States and Canada. Aiuphigerontia longicanda, n. sp., is described. Amphigerontia petiolata (Banks) is recorded from the Rocky Mountains for the first time. The holotype of Amphigerontia infernicola (Chapman) is re-examined and described in detail. New characters for the separation of females of Amphigerontia bifasciata (Latreille) and Amphigerontia montivaga (Chapman) resulted in many new records of the latter species, previously known in the Rocky Mountains from only a single locality. Species-level characters are reviewed and several new ones are added. A key to the species known from North America north of Mexico is included. Key Words: Psocoptera. Psocidae, Amphigerontia., new species. Rocky Mountains Psocids of the genus Amphigerontia are found throughout the Rocky Moun-tains of the United States and Canada. These relatively large psocids sometimes become abundant locally in late summer and autumn on the foliage and branches of coniferous trees. The species are much alike in superficial appearance and accu-rate identification of the Rocky Moun-tain species is not possible with the existing literature. In this paper we attempt to resolve this problem with a new evaluation of characters, new diagnoses, and a revised key to the species. It should be noted that the term "Rocky Mountains" as used here in-cludes the desert ranges of New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah and also an area west of the mountains in British Columbia. Five species are now known from the Rocky Mountains. One of these is new and is here named and described from material collected in Arizona, New Mex-ico, and Colorado. Amphigerontia infer-nicola (Chapman) remains known only from the holotype male, collected at West Thumb, Yellowstone National Park. Our restudy of the type makes known several additional characters for recognition of this species. The other three species have fairly wide distribu-tions elsewhere in North America (Mockford 1993). Amphigerontia petio-lata (Banks) is recorded for the first time from the Rocky Mountains, with local-ities in New Mexico and southern Arizona. Amphigerontia montivaga (Chapman) was previously known in the Rocky Mountains from a single locality in west-central Colorado. Prior to the present study, many females of this species were misidentified as Amphi-
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