page_title: Bookworm (insect)
hierarchical_section_title: Bookworm (insect)
caption_attribution_description: A book showing damage from insect infestation ("bookworms"), on display at the Yale Medical School library
context_page_description: Bookworm is a term for any kind of insect which supposedly chews through books.
  This behaviour is uncommon. Both the larvae of the deathwatch beatle and the common furniture beetle will go through wood and if paper is nearby they will pass into that.
  A major book-feeding insect is the booklouse. It is a tiny, soft-bodied wingless psocoptera. The insect actually eats molds and other plants found in books that were not kept clean and safe, but they will also attack bindings and other parts. It is also not a true louse.
  Many other insects, like the silverfish or cockroach, will eat these molds, including rotten paper or the starch-based binding pastes – warmth and moisture or high humidity are needed, so damage is more common in the tropics. Modern glues and paper are less attractive to insects.
  By the twentieth century, modern bookbinding materials prevented much of the damage done to books by book-boring insects.
context_section_description: Bookworm is a term for any kind of insect which supposedly chews through books.
  This behaviour is uncommon. Both the larvae of the deathwatch beatle (Xestobium rufovillosum) and the common furniture beetle (Anobium punctatum) will go through wood and if paper is nearby they will pass into that.
  A major book-feeding insect is the booklouse (or book louse). It is a tiny (under 1 mm), soft-bodied wingless psocoptera (usually Trogium pulsatorium). The insect actually eats molds and other plants found in books that were not kept clean and safe, but they will also attack bindings and other parts. It is also not a true louse.
  Many other insects, like the silverfish (Lepisma saccharina) or cockroach (various Blattodea), will eat these molds, including rotten paper or the starch-based binding pastes – warmth and moisture or high humidity are needed, so damage is more common in the tropics. Modern glues and paper are less attractive to insects.
  By the twentieth century, modern bookbinding materials prevented much of the damage done to books by book-boring insects.
caption: Pages riddled with bookworm damage
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XTi", "Image Orientation": "0", "Image XResolution": "350", "Image YResolution": "350", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Picasa 3.0", "Image DateTime": "2008:03:31 18:18:59", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "216", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1030", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "3131", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/40", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "400", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2008:03:31 18:18:59", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2008:03:31 18:18:59", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "174389/32768", "EXIF ApertureValue": "97349/32768", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "-5/3", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "50", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3197", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1719", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "3888000/877", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "432000/97", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "51f27aa97d9f9cfbdb0e6bd8864a15c3"}