''Ctenolepisma ciliatum'' 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 ...

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 t ...

. Described from Spain, it is a common species in subarid habitats of the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

bassin from Portugal to Western Asia. It is very close to ''C. longicaudatum''. Its dorsal pattern is usually uniformly brownish or greyish with iridescences, or with two or four longitudinal fringes along the abdomen. Anatomic/morphologic differences with related species involve microscopic characters as setation or shape and distribution of scales.

References

On ''Ctenolepisma ciliata'' and a new related species, ''Ctenolepisma armeniaca'' sp. n. (Zygentoma, Lepismatidae)
Lepismatidae Insects of Europe Fauna of Spain Insects described in 1831 Taxa named by Léon Jean Marie Dufour {{Thysanura-stub