What is Bookworm (insect)?
[[File:Carl Spitzweg 021-detail.jpg|thumb|''The Bookworm'' is a painting done by [[Carl Spitzweg]] around 1850]] [[Image:Bookworm damage on Errata page.jpg|thumb|Pages riddled with bookworm damage]] [[File:Staublaus Details.jpg|thumb|Larva of a book louse]] [[File:Psocoptera.jpg|thumb|Adult book louse]] '''Bookworm''' is a term for any kind of [[insect]] which supposedly chews through [[book]]s. 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&nbsp;mm), soft-bodied wingless ''[[psocoptera]]'' (usually ''Trogium pulsatorium''). The insect actually eats [[mold]]s 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.<ref>{{cite book|last=Murray|first=Stuart|title=The Library: An Illustrated History|year=2009|publisher=Skyhorse Publishing|location=New York, NY|page=198}}</ref> ==Related pages== *[[Woodworm]] *[[Books]] == == {{reflist}} [[Category:Insects]]