Barklice 2022

The brown barklouse nursery and more



Martha O'Kennon

This has been a hard year for most of the small creatures in my yard, especially since it has been so chilly and rainy. This puts a lot of pressure on my favorite insects of the year, the Barklice. My most loved little family group is some kind of critter, probably not a Barklouse that has laid its eggs well above my eye level, in a freckle-sized brown patch that started off in October looking like a small splat of brown straw. I'd say the freckle was about a millimeter across. Picture 2, taken on December 25, isn't multiplied much but it is a lot larger than the one in picture 1. It's closer to the tiny critter above and to the left of the picture. Picture 3 was taken on December 19. The white bits seem to be breaking apart. I'm sure the nymphs are inside there somewhere.



Picture 1 was taken on December 21, picture 2 on December 26, and last, December 28. When I first saw the black blob on the upper right of the nest, I assumed that it was a nymph. Now I don't think so, and am still looking for other possible nymphs.



Pictures here are from December 29. Picture 2 is a detail of the lower-right quadrant, and seems to be showing a few similar greyish ellipses. My new hypothesis is that they are nymphs. Third has the nymphs outlined in rectangles. Hopefully as they grow it will be easier to get better shots. Hope so!



Here is a picture from Dec. 31, showing a number of elliptical bumps, which are my present idea of what to look for from nymphs.



Here are a couple of views of possible nymphs (the little ball things). I took them about 9 am on New Years Day.



Here are one picture from this week April 13th and 15th - not too different from in December. If this conglomeration is alive, I can't wait to see what the critters ARE!



Barklouse Nests 2022

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copyright Martha O'Kennon 2022