When one hears the word “lice” several scary thoughts enter your mind. “Blood sucking creatures”, “Creepy crawlers” , and other unpleasant images. Did you know there are some insects called “lice” that are not harmful? They are even helpful! Meet the Barklice.

I discovered these interesting creatures while we were walking around the yard of our friend’s house that had recently moved to a house out in the country on a large lot. My wife and a couple other ladies saw them on the trunk of a Mimosa tree and called me over to identify them. When I took a look I did not know what insects they were. I only recognized that they must be some type of “true bug” because of the way their wings overlapped on their backs. I had to do some research to find out what they were.

Move Around In Groups:

One characteristic that sets these insects apart is the way they travel around on the bark of trees. They wander like a herd of cattle. Traveling in groups makes them appear larger than they are so that predators have to think twice before taking on the large group. Like cattle, these creatures are grazing as they move around. Guess what they eat?

Nature’s Clean Up Crew:

These tiny little insects are beneficial because they feed on fungus, lichen, algae, and decaying plant scraps that grow on the surface of the bark of trees. So…if you find them on your trees, don’t be alarmed and definitely don’t grab a can of bug spray! No insecticide is needed. They are here to help!

Two Major Groups:

While reading up on these creatures I discovered there are two primary varieties of Barklice: Aggregating and Web Spinning. As these common names imply, one group travel around in groups while others wrap the trunks of trees in silky webbing while feeding on the bark beneath. The ones I viewed were the Aggregating variety. Apparently there are many species in each of these two larger groups. Some have wings while others do not. Some are black (like the ones pictured here), while others are yellow, green, gray or brown. Most have striped abdomen with banding similar to the bees. Some have very long antennae and others of varying size.

The Web Spinning group is classified in the Achipsocas group while the Aggregating group is in the Cerastipsocas group.

So What Should You Do If You Don’t Like Bugs on Your Trees?

For those who don’t like creatures crawling on their trees, rather than using insecticides to banish them, just grab a high pressure garden hose and spray them away. That way no poisons need to be inserted into the environment. Most people, after they learn more about the creatures they fear, are quick to change their view of things with a little education. Before taking knee-jerk reactions it’s good to take a little time to gather facts to make better decisions.

Think About It:

Have you noticed that all creatures, great and small, have a purpose in the larger scheme of things. This is by design! When God originally created every thing He placed each in just the right place within the world. It was only when man sinned in the Garden of Eden when nature was cursed and it became more difficult for man living in relation to the creation around him. Man’s role as caretaker of the Earth remains and we should recognize our responsibility to use the natural resources wisely.

If you take the time to investigate you can discover your purpose as given in God’s Word, the Bible. The more you look around you the more you will find He left a lot of evidence in His Creation to direct man to see there is a Creator and Sustainer.

Why Not Go Out And See If You Can Find These Insects In Your Neighborhood?:

If you would like to see these little guys in action, go out and find a tree. The easiest trees to find them on are the smooth barked trees like Crepe Myrtle and Mimosa trees since the insects stand out against the smooth background. They also can be found on oak trees and other hardwood trees, though they are harder to see there because of the texture and coloration of the bark.

Look in moist places on the trunks of the trees since the humidity helps the fungi, algae and lichen to grow. That is where they will be feeding. Move your hand over the group and watch them move away in a herd. They are really interesting little creatures.

What a Beauty!:

“Big” and “beautiful” are great words to describe this species of the Silk Moth Family.

Adult specimens can reach wingspans of from 5 to 7 inches. (Look at the hand under the moth for perspective.) Their fuzzy wings seem almost like velvet in texture. Notice the mixture of colors that combine to give them such a distinct look. This one is a female. Her antennae are much thinner than those of their male counterparts.

Release Your Perfume:

You might wonder why God created the males with larger antennae than the females. The antennae of the males are extremely sensitive so that they can use these organs to locate the females. The females emit very small droplets of pheromones which are a biological perfume that attracts the males for mating. Males can detect these pheromones from up to seven miles away.

You Better Find Her Quickly!:

There is a very short window for Spring mating since the adults do not have functional mouthparts. They don’t eat at all in this stage of development. Their only task is to find a mate and produce offspring before they run out of the stored food in their bodies.

Beware of Imposters!:

One of the predators of these moths is the Bolo Spider. This arachnid has his own bag of tricks. One of these is emitting an odor that closely mimics the female pheromones of the Cecropia moth. When an unsuspecting male moth comes in tracking this odor he gets snatched up by the sneaky spider. The poor female moth has to hope another male will replace him if she ever hopes to have her eggs fertilized.

Other Dangers:

Scientists have theorized that these and other moths navigate by the light of the moon. Since house lights are often brighter than the moonlight off in the distance, many moths zero in on porch lights and end up on the walls or windows near the light sources. This is where most people encounter them. Some nocturnal creatures like to catch and eat the moths as they fly through the air. Bats and Screech Owls especially enjoy them. Besides these dangers in adulthood the young also face many perils. Many parasitic wasps and flies lay their eggs on either the eggs or larvae of the young. These parasitic eggs usually hatch out when the caterpillars go into the pupae stage. The larvae of the flies and wasp feed on the pupa when it is all wrapped up waiting for metamorphosis to complete its life journey to adulthood.

Colorful Creatures:

You have already seen how beautiful the adults are with all their amazing colors. The other stages of these creatures are also colorful! The eggs, when placed on the tops or bottoms of the host plants, are reddish brown and cream colored. When the little caterpillars emerge they are totally black. As they continue to shed their skins while growing larger ( scientists call these instars) the caterpillars change colors. They go from black to yellowish green to almost blue green just before they cocoon. The caterpillars reach sizes up to five or more inches in length! That is a big creature!

The Cocoons Are Vulnerable:

If the parasites mentioned before haven’t attacked the caterpillars, the pupae in their cocoons are also in potential danger. Guess who likes to eat these fast food tidbits? Squirrels and Woodpeckers. Fortunately for the moths the cocoons are camouflaged to look like part of the branches to which they are attached. Most go into the cocoon stage in the early fall to remain inside until the warm Spring weather returns. They are wrapped up well in their winter jackets that insulate them from the freezing temperatures of the winter months. The silk used to weave the cocoons traps air between the strands that function like a warm sleeping bag to keep the pupae at just the right temperature for development. When Spring comes the adults emerge and pump up their wings and take flight to find their mates.

Strength in Numbers:

It is amazing how successful these creatures are when you see the many dangers they face. One way they survive is in the vast number of eggs that the females produce. Females can lay hundreds of eggs. Because there are so many scattered around she can be sure some of them will survive to carry on the species.

Keep Your Eyes Open!:

I hope you have enjoyed learning about these amazing creatures. Why not look around your neighborhood to see what creatures are out at night. Look around your porch lights and windows. You will find many other insects are attracted to lights. If you look carefully you may even find some that were caught by the spiders that have learned that house lights are good at bringing in their meals. As you look at the beautiful designs and behaviors of these creatures recognize that this didn’t happen by accident. Each creature is testimony to an Intelligent Designer. I believe this Creator is Jesus Christ. Consider the evidence of design. Consider what else you can learn about our loving, living God.

Special Thank You:

I would like to offer a special thank you to my neighbor, Brooke Thompson, who took this amazing photo of the Cecropia Moth that visited her house this week. She gave me permission to use her photo. Three of us in the neighborhood have posted pictures of different moths we have found around our windows this week. We live in a friendly neighborhood where most people enjoy the wildlife that abounds here in the Oak Lake area of Spring Hill, Tennessee.

A Wake Up Call:

Who is knocking on the window at midnight? I had to investigate. I slowly opened the front door and went out to see a large green moth banging up against the window. It was attracted to the light coming through the window shades.

What a Beauty!

As you can see in the photos this is a large moth. It has semi-transparent lime green wings with eyespots of yellow and magenta. Scientists believe these eyespots confuse predators that think they are the eyes of larger animals. Each wing is covered in tiny scales that reflect the light and give the sings a shimmering effect.

The Tale of the Tails:

One thing you probably noticed right away are the long slender tails of this moth. Unfortunately this one had one tail broken off from banging into the window. Scientists have theorized that these long tails contribute to the moth’s survival by messing with the echolocation of one of their enemies, the bats. When a bat zeros in on the moth in flight it often misses the body of the moth and just gets a piece of the tail allowing the moths to continue on their way to find a mate.

No Time To Eat!:

A strange things about the adults is they never eat another meal. As young larvae they are ravenous gluttons eating as much as they can to grow in size before going into their pupal stage, but once they emerge as adults their life span is only days or hours. Their only parental duty is to find a mate!

Where and How Can They Find a Mate?:

Ever heard of pheromones? Pheromones are a biological perfume generated by the females to attract the males. Though emitted in microscopic proportions, they are very powerful attractants. A male can sense this odor from miles away and he follows it to where the female is waiting for his arrival. Once he finds her they mate and then the females finds leaves of host plants on which to deposit her eggs. She can place 200-400 eggs on the bottoms of these leaves. After that, she has done her duty, and she dies.

Tricky Larvae!:

What would you do if hundreds of predators were out to get you? Well, these little caterpillars are not without a few tricks up their sleeves. One strategy is their coloration. They are camouflaged to match their surroundings. If that does not work, they also can bang their mandibles (chewing mouthparts) together to make a noise loud enough to be heard by man. This clicking sound makes the predators pause long enough for their next trick. When a predator is about to take a mouthful of their body the larvae squeeze out some of the noxious stomach content which smells terrible and is very distasteful! This is like when someone is sick and barfs up the last meal they ate. It is not a pretty sight! This usually deters the animals seeking to eat them. If they do become a meal there are a lot more larvae than the predators can ever find. In this way there will be more Luna Moths in the future.

That About Wraps Things Up:

When the larvae reach the desired size they search for some dry leaves. They crawl inside and start to spin a tiny silk web. Just before they bind up the leaves to form their hiding place they emit any unnecessary food still left in their stomachs. This reduces their size do they can fit comfortably into the skin of the pupa for the next stage of their life. While inside the cocoon they undergo a marvelous transformation to become winged adults.

How Are We Going To Get Out of This One!

When it comes time for the adults to emerge from the cocoon they have to have a way to get out! Imagine if you were tied up in a whole lot of rope. It would be hard to escape. Well, these little creatures have been given special abilities to free themselves. One of these is tiny sharp spurs of chitin. This substance is like the stuff your fingernails are made of. These tiny knife-like structures allow the creatures to cut a circular ring that weakens the outside of the cocoon. They also have a special dissolving agent (like acid) that acts on the proteins in the silk to weaken its strength. After employing these two tactics the adults emerge from their bindings. When they first come out they are a gnarly sight, all wrinkled up and shriveled looking. They then start to pump fluid into their wings and they swell up and start to dry out hardening them for flight. The whole process is an amazing plan designed by our amazing Creator, God.

Ladies First?….Not!

One interesting thing about the timing of the emergence of these insects is that the males seem to come out well in advance of the females. This way they are already scattered around waiting for the ladies to arrive on the scene. As soon as the females start giving off their perfumes they are ready to find them. The window for mating is very short since neither the males or females have long to live after coming out of their cocoons.

Feathered Antennae: A Moth Characteristic:

If you look closely at the pictures in this blog you can find the antennae. Notice that they are much different than the long smooth antennae of butterflies. Moth antennas resemble feathers. This are designed as very sensitive sense organs to find their mates. The males have much larger antennae than the females. This is probably because they need them to detect the pheromones of the females.

Actius luna is the Scientific name of these insects.

These Creatures Point to Their Creator:

As you have seen in this post, these creatures are equipped with so many things necessary for survival. They are beautiful in design and suggest a marvelous Creator. If you have ever looked at a beautiful painting you probably wished you could have met the artist that created the piece. It was apparent that to make such a beautiful picture required a great deal of imagination and skill. As I look at the creatures I discover around me I can’t but notice these creatures could not have come to life without an intelligent powerful Creator who designed each with care and purpose. I hope you can see this evidence as well. He has not only left evidence in the things He created, He also has given us His Word, the Bible where we can learn more about His purpose for all things. He designed you with a purpose as well.

Mostly Hidden Wonders:

It was a real treat to find this little frog yesterday when I was weeding and trimming brush around my house in Spring Hill, Tennessee. Though these frogs are usually unseen they are often heard when making their mating calls usually in May and June of the year here in the Eastern part of the United States. Their call is a high pitched trill and can be heard from a great distance. (If you want to hear what they sound like you can find several examples on Google) .

Amazing Winter Survivalists:

Though we live in the south eastern portion, they are found even farther north on this side of the U.S. They can even survive the cold winter months using an amazing survival strategy. When God created these little amphibians He provided them with the chemical glycerol in their blood. Glycerol is like a biological antifreeze. When the cold winter months arrive the frogs go into a state of hibernation. Up to 80% of their little bodies can freeze up and their heart rate and breathing decrease to a minimal state. The glycerol allows them to survive by keeping their organs and membrane from breaking up. As soon as the temperatures rise to safe levels they thaw out and become active again.

Usually Live Alone:

These little frogs spend the majority of their lives in solitude. They only come together during the mating season. So where would you usually find them if you were to go out looking for them? Well, they don’t call them treefrogs for nothing! They are excellent climbers and have specialized toe pads which allow them to adhere to the bark of trees. Their moist bodies also help in keeping them in contact with the branches and trunks of the trees where they make their homes. Scientists use the term “arboreal” to describe creatures that live in trees.

Important Part of the Ecosystem:

Believe it or not there are a lot of food items up in the trees. They feed on flies and mosquitos and other small insects. The adults have a different diet than the young. In the early stages of metamorphosis the tadpoles/pollywogs are vegetarians feeding on algae and decaying plant material. After they shed their tails and emerge on land they subsist on a diet of smaller creatures like insects, worms, spiders, etc. These frogs are in turn eaten by many other creatures like birds, small mammals, larger frogs and salamanders, snakes and even giant water bugs.

Defensive Strategies:

Though they have many enemies, they also are equipped with some very effective defense mechanisms. One of these is their ability to change color and skin patterns to adapt to various surroundings. Though most often found in gray tones, they can also turn green and various shades of these colors. The one I found was a perfect match to the lichen growing on the wooden fence post. They can make this color change fairly quickly and even vary from dark to lighter shades depending on the surrounding temperatures. Warning! If you ever find one and decide to handle it, keep your hands away from your eyes and nose! They emit a toxic slimy substance from glands in their skin. It can cause a lot of discomfort if it gets in eyes or the mucus linings of your nose. It can also cause skin irritation in some individuals. It’s best to just observe them and not handle them in the wild.

If You Want to Win You Better Sing a Good Song!

When the mating season comes with the spring rainfall the males begin singing their songs trying to draw in a mate. He better sing a good strong song or he will be avoided by the picky females. They only go for the best performers.

Once a female is attracted the male grabs her and she lays her mass of jellylike eggs. (The female can lay a cluster if eggs from 100 to 200 in number in a single clutch.) The male then fertilizes the eggs and returns to his tree top existence. Shortly thereafter the little tadpoles emerge and begin feeding in the water. After a couple weeks they gain their front legs and drop their tails and crawl out onto the land to continue their life cycle.

Notice the Warty Surface of the Skin.

In the above picture you can see the texture of their skin. Like other amphibians their skin must remain moist so they can absorb air through their skin. They have receptors in their skin that can let them know about their surroundings. They are very sensitive to vibrations as well. Like other frogs they can hop away if danger approaches or crawl into crevices or under bark and into moss and lichen to hide.

Every Creature Has Its Place and Purpose:

When exploring your surroundings looking for creatures to study and watch their interesting behaviors, take time to consider the evidence of design. When God created the world and everything in it He had a reason and purpose for every thing He made. Each creature was given the built in features it would need to adjust to changes in its environment. Those creatures that would be food for others were designed to reproduce in greater numbers so that there would be enough food for the predators and enough survivors to carry on the species. You will find an incredible interdependent relationship between all creatures, great and small. The balance between how one organism affects the others can easily be knocked out of balance if we, God’s caretakers of His creation, don’t do our part in preserving the environment around us.

Do You Know Your Purpose?:

If you have never taken time to consider this important life question, it would be important to consider it now. According to God’s Word, the Bible, we were created to glorify God and enjoy His creation forever.

Colossians 1: 16 “For by Him all things were created, in heaven and earth, visible and invisible…..all things were created through Him and for Him.”

Hebrews 11: 1 and 6:

” Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see…..And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.”

God has given us so much evidence of His existence in creation. The closer we look the more we see. He also gave us His Word, the Bible with the recorded history of the world and the prophecies of the future. So many of the prophecies recorded there have already come true and there is so much more to come. Be sure you don’t miss the opportunity to personally have a relationship with your Creator.