Common Bark Louse vs Red Oak Borer

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Common Bark Louse Red Oak Borer
Scientific Name Graphopsocus cruciatus Enaphalodes rufulus
Order Psocoptera Coleoptera
Family Stenopsocidae Cerambycidae
Size 3-4 mm 18-30 mm
Habitat Woodlands Woodlands
Diet Wood Feeders Wood Feeders
Regions Europe, North America Eastern North America
Conservation Least Concern Least Concern

Common Bark Louse

A winged bark louse with distinctive cross-shaped wing markings found on tree trunks across Europe. It feeds on algae and lichen on bark.

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Did You Know?

Its cross-shaped wing pattern makes it one of the easiest bark lice to identify.

Red Oak Borer

A large reddish-brown cerambycid that breeds in living red oaks across eastern North America. It has a strict two-year life cycle with synchronized adult emergence in odd-numbered years in some regions. Larvae bore into heartwood.

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Did You Know?

Outbreaks of this beetle in the Ozarks during the early 2000s killed thousands of red oak trees across the region.