psychopsid

plural psychopsids

1. biologyAny insect of the silky lacewing family, Psychopsidae.

   While many fossil psychopsids were recorded from the Mesozoic, few representatives have been described from the Tertiary.

   2011, Yuanyuan Peng, Vladimir N. Makarkin, Xiaodong Wang, Dong Ren, “A new fossil silky lacewing genus (Neuroptera, Psychopsidae) from the Early Cretaceous Yixian Formation of China”, in Dmitry Shcherbakov, editor, Advances in the Systematics of Fossil and Modern Insects, page 218

   2 more examples

   Some of the Australian specimens are classified with the psychopsids (family Psychopsidae), an alder fly group occurring solely in Australia, where it is known as the silky lace-wing due to the brilliantly colored wings and the long, silky hair.

   1976, Bernhard Grzimek, Grzimek's Encyclopedia of Evolution, page 265

   As will be repeatedly seen in many Neuroptera families, psychopsids had a wider distribution during the Mesozoic and Tertiary.

   2005, David Grimaldi, Evolution of the Insects, page 342

   Synonyms: silky lacewing