Last month while on a trail at the Houston Arboretum during a stretch of unseasonably warm weather, I saw lichen where no lichen should be. The tree stump was a reddish color and looked to be freshly snapped off, with spiky shards of wood projecting up. The "lichen" was perched on one of these pieces of otherwise unblemished wood. I stopped in mid-stride, backed up, and had a closer look.
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It was what I call a "lichen bug". I hadn't seen one in ages. Or maybe I had seen lots of them and they were just better at practicing "the art of not being seen" than this little bug. I mostly remember seeing them occasionally as a child (which is not surprising considering the amount of time I spent in trees). The bug looks like a tiny spot of lichen on treebark. Having no one I could ask as a kid (I knew more about nature than the adults around me), they were just one of those mysteries and delights of the natural world. But now we have the internet and in short order I was astounded to learn that the small piece of lichen that was slowly lurching and wobbling on the tree stump was the larvae of a lacewing! I knew that lacewings numbered among the "good insects" which prey on the insects that prey on garden plants, but more than that I didn't know. To be honest, I don't know as much about insects as I probably should as a gardener and amateur naturalist. I can identify a fair number of them, and I cuss them out if they eat my seedlings in the spring, but other than a handful that I find interesting or pretty (bees, butterflies, ladybugs) I really don't pay much attention to them unless they demand my attention by doing something obnoxious like biting me. (Mosquitos, ugh!) Lacewings are now on my list of nifty insects because as larvae they pick up lichens to wear as camo as they move carefully and stealthily among the lichens. This is a way to avoid bug-eating predators, which is kind of ironic considering that they grow up to be...bug-eating predators! I like lichens; so interesting and such lovely forms! You gotta love a bug that dresses itself in lichen. I'm glad to become reacquainted with the "lichen bugs" of my childhood. There's something irresistibly whimsical about watching a piece of lichen totter around on a tree. You can buy lacewings and lacewing larvae for your garden, but from the pictures I've seen online, the larvae come unadorned. I wonder if the instructions say, “Please provide your lacewing larvae with good place to shop for lichen because they love to play dress-up.” I don't have a big enough garden or aphid problem to warrant buying beneficial insects, but I'd love to watch a “baby” lacewing assembling its lichen wardrobe. That's one of those nifty things I'm going to be on the lookout for as I admire lichens and look for more "lichen bugs".
