Crepe Myrtle Bark Lice

My Friday Story Time by Lia is different today, I’m showing you our Crepe Myrtle Bark Lice. I am interested in all kinds of bugs and creepy, crawly things.

We have a huge Crepe Myrtle tree between ma’s house and Judy’s. When the flowers are out, it is so pretty. This was a picture from last year when in full bloom.

Crepe Myrtle trees shed their bark like a snack sheds his skin. When the bark loosens it falls off in strips. After it’s all off, the tree is so smooth. When I was pulling some of the bark off yesterday, ma saw a bunch of little bugs all together. At first we thought they were ants until ma took a picture and we checked on Google Lens and learned they were Bark Lice.

Bark Lice aren’t really lice, they are small insects that eat the debris in the tree bark, mostly on smooth bark trees like Crepe Myrtles. They are about the size of an ant and they aren’t a threat to trees or plants. They clump together on the tree and are called colonies. The don’t bite or cause damage to the trees, pets or people.

If you put your hand or a stick up to them, they start marching away. It was fun watching them march up the tree when I held a piece of bark up to them. They were all together in the first picture and when I put the bark up to them, they started marching higher up the tree but they stayed together like a family.

When the bark is falling off the tree it doesn’t look too pretty but after it’s all off, the tree looks so nice and then the flowers will start coming out.

This is the first time Ma and I have seen the Bark Lice and it was fun learning about them. Do you have a tree that sheds the bark and have you heard of Bark Lice?