Living under a shroud ...
Channel: TerraNaturalist
Date: 06/10/2012

I like making new discoveries that demand an explanation. Last summer I encountered an oak tree wrapped in a layer of silk. Surely the tree was infested with tent caterpillars or web worms or some exotic species of spider! Not so. Instead, I found a community of small insects living in and under the webbing actively gleaning fungi, lichen, and assorted debris off the bark of the tree, hence the web builder's common name barklice. Presumably, the layer of silk was spun to protect the community from predators such as ants, spiders, and anoles.