Jul 6, 2022
#1847 -Â Clematostigma maculiceps
One of Australia’s wide range of really beautiful barklice. I’m amazed that I stumbled over an ID for this one - it’s a complicated Order, formerly Psocoptera, but now Psocodea since the True Lice turned out to be a specialised group within the Barklice, most closely related to the Booklice.Â
The parasitic lice (formerly of the Order Phthiraptera) includes some 5,000 species of wingless ectoparasite, and the booklice (Liposcelidae) include some cosmopolitan household pests, but the barklice are harmless scavengers of fungi, algae, lichen, and organic detritus. Some species can spin silk from glands in their mouth.Â
