Q: #1 Can you help me identify this cotton candy webbing that is on my daughterʼs oak tree in Valdosta?

#2 I am attaching a few pictures of web-like substance that I found in my holly tree in Statesboro. Last year I saw the same thing in an old oak tree in our yard.

There are a million small brown insects (smaller than a pencil point) swarming all over the tree branches underneath the veil of webbing. There is a great deal of green frilly lichen attached to the tree as well, which they seem to be attracted to.

A: You both have tree barklice (somehow I wish they were named barking treelice…but I can’t have everything!).

They are harmless and don’t hurt the tree. They feed on debris caught in the bark as well as on lichens. The webbing will wash off in a heavy rain…or you can sweep it off with a broom.

Clemson Extension Service has good information along with Aggie Horticulture.