Giant Microbes - Bookworm (Anobium punctatum)

Anobium punctatum is the classic bookworm primarily responsible for tunneling holes through the pages of old codices and manuscripts. A. punctatum also works a day job as the common furniture beetle, which is where it is more often encountered today.

It is the larvae of A. punctatum that is actually the bibliophage. It spends up to five years devouring pulpy leaves of fact and fiction. Then it pupates, undergoes a metamorphosis, spreads its wings, and flies away.

That brings a whole new meaning behind having to “eat your words”.