What the heck is this???

Vfox

Arachnobaron
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Okay so I was pulling an old motor out of a scrap metal pile in my shed and this "thing" fell out of it. It's about half and inch long and bounced around like a shrimp out of water. It's scaly in the same way a butterfly's wings are and has a very unusual somewhat "silverfish" look to it. An ID would be great, I'm lost on this one.
Also this is from South Central Pennsylvania and was found today.

 
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Galapoheros

ArachnoGod
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It looks a lot like a silverfish but it's something else, I can't remember the name. I took a pic of one too quite a while back and posted it, somebody IDd it. Yeah I remember that they bounce around like a shrimp out of water, prob the first time I had seen one of those.
 

pouchedrat

Arachnolord
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it reminds me of lawn shrimp, but I don't know any that color or with that tail
 

Mat

Arachnosquire
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I'd say a Firebrat, a member of the Silverfish family.
 

Galapoheros

ArachnoGod
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"Firebrat", I don't think that's it either, maybe I'll look for that old thread.
 

Pulk

Arachnoprince
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Good lord, people. That's an archaeognathan (jumping bristletail).
 

Vfox

Arachnobaron
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Good lord, people. That's an archaeognathan (jumping bristletail).
Ah, thank you. I couldn't seem to figure it out. It's an odd little thing isn't it? Time to do a bit of research, I'm curious what role this little guy has.
 

Vulgaris

Arachnosquire
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They are very strange creatures, in my opinion. I've only ever seen one once and they look ancient
 

Canth

Arachnolord
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Ohh I've see these. It's a jumping bristletail.

;)
 

ZergFront

Arachnoprince
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Wow, I've never heard of these. I would have guess silverfish or firebrat and suggested marshmellows as a snack. X-D
 

texasroach

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Insects in the order Archaeognatha are the most primitive living insects, they can be distinguished from order Thysanura (silverfish and firebrats) by their humped thorax, and larger eyes which are set close together
 

Moltar

ArachnoGod
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That's really cool. I've never even heard of one of those but the woods near my house is probably thick with them.
 

Stylopidae

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If it's about half an inch, it's a Machillid if it's smaller, it's probably a Meinertellid. Machillids have scales on their antennae, while Meinertellids don't.

Cool find. :)

They're known as Microcoryphians now, Archaeognatha isn't used so much anymore.
 

texasroach

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They're known as Microcoryphians now, Archaeognatha isn't used so much anymore.
We still use Archaeognatha at Texas A&M, if one of the top entomology departments in the country is using it I'm going to go with Archaeognatha
 
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