Grey silverfish
The grey silverfish is a slim, fast, wingless insect covered in tiny shiny scales, so it glitters grey. It has long feelers in front and three long tails at the back. It lives in houses all over the world and loves to nibble paper.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
Its feelers and tails can be about as long as its whole body.
Babies hatch without scales and are pale cream. They get their shiny scales after a few moults.
It lays its eggs in little cracks or under the edge of paper.
It is becoming more common in new houses in Europe, where it stays warm and steady all year.
Hatching from the egg takes only about five minutes.
Most asked questions about Grey silverfish
?Is the grey silverfish harmful?
Not to people. It does not bite, but it can damage books, paper and some clothes.
?What does the grey silverfish eat?
Almost anything, including paper, cardboard and fabrics like rayon.
?Why is it called paper silverfish?
Because it loves to eat paper and can even digest it.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Ctenolepisma longicaudatum
- Named by
- Escherich, 1905
- Group
- Other insects
- Family
- Lepismatidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Zygentoma > Lepismatidae
- Lives on
- Africa, Europe, Asia, North America, South America, Australia and Oceania
- Also known as
- Long-tailed silverfish, Paper silverfish
Where the facts come from
- Ctenolepisma longicaudatum (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Rene Sylvestersen. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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