Historical biogeography of Thyrsophorini psocids and description of a new neotropical species of Thyrsopsocopsis (Psocodea: Psocomorpha: Psocidae)

When based on phylogenetic proposals, biogeographic historic narratives have a great interest for hypothesizing paths of origin of the current biodiversity. Among the many questions that remain unsolved about psocids, the distribution of Thyrsophorini represents still a remarkable enigma. This tribe had been considered as exclusively Neotropical, until the description of Thyrsopsocopsis thorntoni Mockford, 2004, from Vietnam. Three hypotheses have been proposed to explain this atypical distribution, recurring to dispersal, vicariance and morphological parallelism between lineages, but the lack of evidence has not allowed a unique support. Here, we describe a new Neotropical species of Thyrsopsocopsis, and also attempt to test the three biogeographical hypotheses in a phylogenetic context. In our analyses, the position of Cycetes (Cycetini) and Thyrsopsocopsis among Thyrsophorini psocids is well resolved, suggesting a dispersal event from the Neotropics for both genera.