barklouse

Noun

bark louse (plural bark lice)

1. (obsolete) Any insect of the family Coccidae, that infest the bark of trees and vines.
   • Housed plants are considerably injured by an oval bark-louse, the Coccus Hesperidum of Linnæus, which has been introduced from abroad.1833 January 20, The New England Farmer and Horticultural Journal, volume 11, page 226
2. Any insect of the order Psocoptera, that live on or near trees and feed on algae and lichen.
   • Another group of insects that tend to be very secretive in their habits and were very well represented in the ancient forest are the bark lice, or psocids.⁶⁸ Bark lice (90) are usually solitary, but sometimes the adults and nymphs live together under webs spun out of silk emitted from head glands....1999, George O. Poinar, Roberta Poinar, The Amber Forest: A Reconstruction of a Vanished World, page 84

   Synonyms:

   bark fly, psocid