Today's Insect: the Sweet n' Low Bug!

In honor of one of my LJ-friends (you know who you are!), I bring you:

Today's Bug.

Today's bug is the silverfish, lapisma saccharina.

See? It's actually a very pretty bug, with sinuous, slithery movements and a bright, silvery body. It should, in my opinion, be called rather the quicksilverfish.

But living with these buggers isn't fun, either, especially since some people mistake them for a type of cockroach.

Silverfish are not cockroaches.

Curious things about silverfish:

* L. saccharina are named because of their affinity for artificial sweetener.

* They breed by artificial insemination. They do not copulate. The male deposits sperm packets, which the female inseminates herself with.

* They are among the most primitive of insects, having first appeared in the Devonian period. They retain many primitive and vestigial features, such as vestigial legs.

* Their natural enemy is the spider.

* You often find them in sinks and bathtubs at night, because they most often travel by night, but can't move easily across smooth surfaces. Thus, they often fall into bathtubs and sinks, but find themselves unable to escape.


References:
Ohio State University Extension Fact Sheet, by William F. Lyon
Texas A&M University Department of Entomology's Field Guide entry
Silverfish, Bristletail & Firebrat by Stephen Boyd
Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University Department of Entomology entry on Thynasurans
Thynasura Fossil Gallery