What a relief - noticed this little bug on my bedside table and started having 'bedbug panic' - I couldn't get a good picture (really small) but with my handlens I could clearly see the chewing mouthparts of a Booklice as opposed to the sucking mouthpart of a bedbug. Apparently these guys eat the glue on book bindings which is why he was probably on my bed side table. They are harmless to humans, but really interestingly, apparently the orders of parasitic lice (headlice etc) are paraphyletic and should include Booklice to be monophyletic - its really easy to see how these guys would make the evolutionary leap from chewing on books to chewing on people!
Many. The neighborhood is rife with them. They especially like to hang out inside electronic equipment --toasters, computers, you name it. Weird. Maybe they are self replicating automata spying on us? Time will tell...
Psocoptera are an order of insects that are commonly known as booklice, barklice or barkflies. They first appeared in the Permian period, 295–248 million years ago. They are often regarded as the most primitive of the hemipteroids. Their name originates from the Greek word psokos meaning gnawed or rubbed and ptera meaning wings. There are more than 5,500 species in 41 families in three suborders. Many of these species have only been described in recent years.
