PSOCOPTERA: BOOKLICE
Definition
- Small sized, soft bodied, with large protruding eyes. Antennae quite long and thread-like. Front wings are larger than the hind wings; some species lack wings. Wings held roof-like over the body.
- Quite fast running.
- Scraping mouthparts. These are not real lice.
- Incomplete life cycle: egg, larva looking like adults, and then adult.
What they do & where they live
- Many live on trees scraping algae from bark or minute fungi and pollen dust from leaves. Others scrape the surface of debris, such as hidden in old birds nests. The indoor ones, such as the booklouse are wingless, and can scrape away at books and other organic material.
- They are widespread in the wild but generally go un-noticed. It is mainly an introduced one that is a nuisance.
Number of species
- In Britain about 70 native species (plus about 12 introduced ones).
- Worldwide figures vary from 1,600 to 2,600.
It's amazing A booklouse is only doing what it evolved to do before there were books, which are made of re-constituted wood. The majority of species have no interest in books but live harmlessly in the wild.
