Silverfish

Season for silverfish

Season for silverfish

( Latin: Order Thysanura)

With their silvery scales and nimble, meandering movements, they can seem similar to glistening small fish. Silverfish have biting mouth parts and are insects. Characteristic are the three wires at the rear end. It’s been 300 million years since the first silver fish-like animal appeared. Some believe that all the various insect types we know today have evolved from silverfish-like insects. In hot climates the silver fish lives in nature, but in this country it is more common indoors than outdoors.

Silverfish

These are omnivorous insects which occasionally gnaw textiles. They will, for example, attack artificial, cellulose-based silk, such as the red ribbon used in Christmas decorations and in gift wrappings.

Other insects which occasionally attack textiles include cockroaches and meal- worms, which sometimes feed on soiled linen.
On account of their size, mice and rats often cause serious damage to textiles when they are collecting nest material. In empty holiday houses which mice may enter during the winter it is a good idea to move mattresses and bedding to a place where the mice cannot get at them. For precautions against mice, see also p. 87.

Order Thysanura

Latin: order Thysanura

These are primitive insects, and the few living species are thought to be the descendants of a group which was very numerous about two hundred million years ago. Two species may be encountered indoors.