BARKLICE or BOOKLICE(Order: Psocoptera) A lot of people are posting at the moment that they are finding large groups of small red animals/insects on walls or on trees..... these are of course in both books: book of bugs and wildcreatures of hong kong.
here is what you need to know....
Barklice is a general term given to a diverse
group of soft-bodied insects in the family
Psocidae. According to bug scientists, these
insects first appeared in the Permian period
295–248 million years ago. Since they haven’t
changed much I suppose they must be doing
something right. Also, they are not really
lice, they just look like them to us humans,
so we lump them all together with a common
name. The species as a whole received their
common name because they are commonly
found amongst old books, where they feed
upon the paste used in binding. The ones
we see in the forests here in Hong Kong
typically feed on algae and lichen, using their
chewing mandibles.
here are the adults
