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''Petrobius maritimus'', the shore bristletail or sea bristletail, is a
species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
of
Archaeognatha The Archaeognatha are an order of apterygotes, known by various common names such as jumping bristletails. Among extant insect taxa they are some of the most evolutionarily primitive; they appeared in the Middle Devonian period at about the sa ...
found on
rocky shore A rocky shore is an intertidal area of seacoasts where solid rock predominates. Rocky shores are biologically rich environments, and are a useful "natural laboratory" for studying intertidal ecology and other biological processes. Due to their ...
s from the
Mediterranean Sea 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 and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...
to the
North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...
 . Individuals may grow up to 15 mm and are grey in colour, with long bristly antennae and a triple forked tail . They are very resistant to low temperatures, and remains active even if the temperature drops below 0 degrees C.Activity of the Sea-Shore Bristle-Tail (Petrobius maritimus (Leach)) (Thysanura) at Low Temperatures
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References

Archaeognatha Insects of Europe Insects described in 1809 {{Archaeognatha-stub