Psocid

5900   Hello, I live in Kitchener, Ontario and it’s January right now. I just got this new townhouse last February and never noticed these little guys in my basement (basement only), till this month. It’s been snowing a lot and the house is quite dry, Im not sure if the basement is humid though, but we have the heat at 22 degrees inside. These little guys seem white from far until I took the picture. They are less than half a mm in size and when you spook them or touch them they just hop, they don’t fly, but hops quite fast. After taking these pictures I noticed they are really light brown and have little dots on them. I really hope they aren’t bed bugs or termites. New house and they are all over the basement concrete floor.  Thanks in advance!  Ivan. 

This is a psocid, commonly called booklice because of their association with books or paper. Booklice feed most commonly on molds as well as fungi, grains, insect fragments, and other starchy material, including glue from book bindings. In homes, they can be found in damp, warm, undisturbed places where mold and fungi are growing. For more information and control suggestions see http://www.extension.umn.edu/garden/insects/find/psocids