''Ctenolepisma almeriense'' is a species of primitive

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

of the order

Zygentoma Zygentoma are an order in the class Insecta, and consist of about 550 known species. The Zygentoma include the so-called silverfish or fishmoths, and the firebrats. A conspicuous feature of the order are the three long caudal filaments. The two ...

. Members of this species were once attributed to the widespread species ''

Ctenolepisma lineatum ''Ctenolepisma lineatum'' is a species of insect of the order Zygentoma. It is generally similar to the closely related silverfish but can be distinguished by being rather stouter and less shiny with all appendages ( antennae and 3 "tails") not ...

'' but there are small but consistent differences which mark this as a separate species. It is found exclusively in south-eastern Spain, on Mediterranean slopes of the

provinces A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...

Alicante Alicante ( ca-valencia, Alacant) is a city and municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city was 337,482 , the second-largest in t ...

Almería Almería (, , ) is a city and municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of the same name. It lies on southeastern Iberia on the Mediterranean Sea. Caliph Abd al-Rahman III founded the city in 955. The city gr ...

Murcia Murcia (, , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the seventh largest city in the country. It has a population of 460,349 inhabitants in 2021 (about one ...

and

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

. This species inhabits

arid A region is arid when it severely lacks available water, to the extent of hindering or preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life. Regions with arid climates tend to lack vegetation and are called xeric or desertic. Most ar ...

regions, usually under debris at the base of trees and shrubs, especially ''

Pinus A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accep ...

'' and ''

Juniperus Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' () of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere, from the Arcti ...

''. There appears to be no overlap in the ranges of this species and ''C. lineatum'', the latter species preferring moister environments. Both ''C. lineatum'' and ''C. almeriense'' are up to 13mm in length (excluding appendages) with considerable variation in pattern. The only consistent morphological differences between the two is in the combs of bristles on the

thorax The thorax or chest is a part of the anatomy of humans, mammals, and other tetrapod animals located between the neck and the abdomen. In insects, crustaceans, and the extinct trilobites, the thorax is one of the three main divisions of the cre ...

, ''C. almeriense'' generally having these combs in double-rows rather than single.

References

Lepismatidae Moths of Europe Fauna of Spain Moths described in 2005 Endemic fauna of Spain {{Thysanura-stub