Lepismatidae

Heterolepisma sp., copyright Graeme Smith.

Belongs within: Zygentoma.

The Lepismatidae are a group of silverfish in which the body is covered with scales (Smith & Watson 1991).

<==Lepismatidae
    |  i. s.: Leucolepisma arenaria Wall 1954 F90
    |         Stylifera gigantea Escherich 1905 F90
    |         Mirolepisma deserticola Silvestri 1938 F90
    |         Lepismodes inquilinus SW91
    |         Onycholepisma arizonae MP08
    |         Peliolepisma RD77
    |         Pachystylus P92
    |         Lampropholis burmiticus Cockerell 1917 P92
    |--Acrotelsa Escherich 1905 W39 [Acrotelsatinae MP08]
    |    `--A. collaris (Fabricius 1793) [incl. Lepisma mucronata Packard 1873] F90
    |--Lepismatinae [Ctenolepismatidae] MP08
    |    |--Paracrotelsa MP08
    |    |--Tricholepisma Paclt 1967 MP08
    |    |--Afrolepisma Mendes 1981 MP08
    |    |--Neoasterolepisma Mendes 1988 MP08
    |    |--Lepitrochisma Mendes 1988 MP08
    |    |--Burmalepisma Mendes & Poinar 2008 MP08
    |    |    `--*B. cretacicum Mendes & Poinar 2008 MP08
    |    |--Xenolepisma Mendes 1981 MP08
    |    |    `--X. penangi SE12
    |    |--Allacrotelsa Silvestri 1934 W39
    |    |    |--A. burmitica R02
    |    |    |--A. dubia R02
    |    |    `--A. spinulata (Packard 1873) [incl. Stachisma mexicana Wygodzinsky 1949] F90
    |    |--Lepisma Linnaeus 1758 W39
    |    |    |--*L. saccharina Linnaeus 1758 W39
    |    |    |--L. lineata SJ92
    |    |    |--L. niveofasciata G89
    |    |    `--L. terrestris Linnaeus 1758 L58
    |    |--Mormisma MP08
    |    |--Acrotelsella Silvestri 1934 W39
    |    |    |--A. devriesiana (Silvestri 1908) [=Acrotelsa devriesiana] W39
    |    |    |    |--A. d. devriesiana W39
    |    |    |    |--A. d. perspinata W39 [=Acrotelsa devriesiana perspinata NR26]
    |    |    |    `--A. d. westralis (Nicholls & Richardson 1925) W39 [=Acrotelsa westralis NR26]
    |    |    |--A. escherichi Womersley 1939 W39
    |    |    |--A. producta (Escherich 1905) [=Acrotelsa producta] W39
    |    |    |--A. silvestri Womersley 1939 W39
    |    |    `--A. splendens (Nicholls & Richardson 1925) (see below for synonymy) W39
    |    |--Thermobia Bergroth 1890 W39
    |    |    |--T. campbelli (Barnhart 1951) F90
    |    |    `--T. domestica (Packard 1873) SC17, F90 [incl. Thermophila furnorum Rovelli 1889 W39]
    |    `--Ctenolepisma Escherich 1905 W39
    |         |--C. burmanica MP08
    |         |--C. ciliata (Dufour 1831) F90
    |         |--C. diversisquamis Silvestri 1908 [incl. C. reducta Folsom 1923] F90
    |         |--C. lineata RS10
    |         |    |--C. l. lineata F90
    |         |    `--C. l. pilifera (Lucas 1840) (see below for synonymy) F90
    |         |--C. longicaudata Escherich 1905 [incl. C. urbana Slabaugh 1940] F90
    |         |--C. targionii (Grassi & Rovelli 1889) F90
    |         `--C. terebrans C90
    `--Heterolepismatinae S13
         |--Anisolepisma Paclt 1967 MC13, S13
         |    `--*A. hartmeyeri (Silvestri 1908) [=Heterolepisma hartmeyeri] S13
         `--Heterolepisma Escherich 1905 [incl. Isolepisma Escherich 1905, Notolepisma Tillyard 1924] S13
              |--*H. pampeana (Silvestri 1902) [=Lepisma pampeana] S13
              |--H. andina (Silvestri 1902) [=Lepisma andina] S13
              |--H. annectans (Silvestri 1924) S13
              |--H. bisetosa (Carpenter 1916) S13
              |--H. dispar Uchida 1944 S13
              |--H. exacta (Silvestri 1918) S13
              |--H. horni Stach 1933 S13
              |--H. howensis Womersley 1942 S13
              |--H. insularis (Banks 1901) S13
              |--H. japonica (Uchida 1968) S13
              |--H. kraepelini Silvestri 1908 S13
              |--H. michaelseni Silvestri 1908 S13
              |--H. mossambicensis Mendes 1993 S13
              |--H. parva Smith 2013 S13
              |--H. primafra (Silvestri 1949) S13
              |--H. rouxi (Silvestri 1915) S13
              |--H. serranoi Mendes 2011 S13
              |--H. stilivarians Silvestri 1908 S13
              |--H. trisetosa (Escherich 1905) [=*Isolepisma trisetosa] S13
              `--H. zealandica (Tillyard 1924) [=*Notolepisma zealandica] S13

Acrotelsella splendens (Nicholls & Richardson 1925) [=Acrotelsa splendens; incl. Acrotelsella producta var. pacifica Silvestri 1934, Acrotelsella producta var. procedens Silvestri 1934] W39

Ctenolepisma lineata pilifera (Lucas 1840) [incl. Lepisma quadriseriata Packard 1873, L. reticulata Schött 1897, L. rubroviolacea Schött 1897] F90

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[C90] Crawford, C. S. 1990. Scorpiones, Solifugae, and associated desert taxa. In: Dindal, D. L. (ed.) Soil Biology Guide pp. 421–475. John Wiley & Sones: New York.

[F90] Ferguson, L. M. 1990. Insecta: Microcoryphia and Thysanura. In: Dindal, D. L. (ed.) Soil Biology Guide pp. 935–949. John Wiley & Sones: New York.

[G89] Gestro, R. 1889. Viaggio ab Assab nel Mar Rosso dei signori G. Doria ed O. Beccari con il R. Avviso “Esploratore” dal 16 Novembre 1879 al 26 Febbraio 1880.—IV. Coleotteri. Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Genova, Serie 2^a, 7: 5–72.

[L58] Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata. Laurentii Salvii: Holmiae.

[MC13] Majer, J. D., S. K. Callan, K. Edwards, N. R. Gunawardene & C. K. Taylor. 2013. Baseline survey of the terrestrial invertebrate fauna of Barrow Island. Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement 83: 13–112.

[MP08] Mendes, L. F., & G. O. Poinar. 2008. A new fossil silverfish (Zygentoma: Insecta) in Mesozoic Burmese amber. European Journal of Soil Biology 44: 491–494.

[NR26] Nicholls, G. E., & K. E. Richardson. 1926. A description of two new species of Acrotelsa. Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 12 (15): 133–140.

[P92] Poinar, G. O., Jr. 1992. Life in Amber. Stanford University Press: Stanford.

[R02] Rasnitsyn, A. P. 2002. Subclass Lepismatona Latreille, 1804. The wingless insects (=Thysanura Latreille 1796, s. l.) In: Rasnitsyn, A. P., & D. L. J. Quicke (eds) History of Insects pp. 69–74. Kluwer Academic Publishers: Dordrecht.

[RS10] Regier, J. C., J. W. Shultz, A. Zwick, A. Hussey, B. Ball, R. Wetzer, J. W. Martin & C. W. Cunningham. 2010. Arthropod relationships revealed by phylogenomic analysis of nuclear protein-coding sequences. Nature 463: 1079–1083.

[RD77] Richards, O. W., & R. G. Davies. 1977. Imms' General Textbook of Entomology 10^th ed. vol. 2. Classification and Biology. Chapman and Hall: London.

[SJ92] Schlegel, H. G., & H. W. Jannasch. 1992. Prokaryotes and their habitats. In: Balows, A., H. G. Trüper, M. Dworkin, W. Harder & K.-H. Schleifer (eds) The Prokaryotes: A handbook on the biology of bacteria: Ecophysiology, isolation, identification, applications 2^nd ed. vol. 1 pp. 75–125. Springer-Verlag: New York.

[SC17] Schwentner, M., D. J. Combosch, J. P. Nelson & G. Giribet. 2017. A phylogenomic solution to the origin of insects by resolving crustacean-hexapod relationships. Current Biology 27: 1818–1824.

[S13] Smith, G. 2013. A new species of Heterolepisma from Barrow Island (Zygentoma: Lepismatidae). Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement 83: 229–240.

[SE12] Smith, G. B., S. M. Eberhard, G. Perina & T. Finston. 2012. New species of short range endemic troglobitic silverfish (Zygentoma: Nicoletiidae) from subterranean habitats in Western Australia's semi-arid Pilbara region. Records of the Western Australian Museum 27 (2): 101–116.

[SW91] Smith, G. B., & J. A. L. Watson. 1991. Thysanura. Zygentoma (silverfish). In: CSIRO. The Insects of Australia: A textbook for students and research workers 2^nd ed. vol. 1 pp. 275–278. Melbourne University Press: Carlton (Victoria).

[W39] Womersley, H. 1939. Primitive Insects of South Australia: Silverfish, springtails, and their allies. South Australian Branch of the British Science Guild: Adelaide.

Zygentoma

Habitus of Trinemura callawae, from Smith et al. (2012).

Belongs within: Panhexapoda.
Contains: Lepismatidae.

The Zygentoma, silverfish, are primitively wingless insects with an elongate terminal filament between the cerci and usually a covering of scales (Grimaldi & Engel 2005). Certain members of the group are familiar as inhabitants of human houses. Living members of the order, excluding the Baltic amber species Lepidothrix pilifera), form a clade Euzygentoma characterised by reductions of the abdominal sterna, number of abdominal styli, and number of tarsal segments (Grimaldi & Engel 2005).

Characters (from Grimaldi & Engel 2005): Compound eyes reduced or absent; ocelli usually absent. Distalmost palpal segment of labium enlarged and modified. Coxae dorsoventrally flattened, enlarged.

<==Zygentoma [Lepismatida, Lepismatoidea]
    |  i. s.: Battigrassiella Paclt 1963 TW05, F90 [Noticoliidae]
    |           `--B. wheeleri TW05 [=Grassiella wheeleri F90]
    |         Carbotriplura kukalovae GE05
    |         Ramsdelepidion Kukalová-Peck 1987 A99, K-P87
    |           `--*R. schusteri Kukalová-Peck 1987 K-P87
    |--Lepidothrix [Lepidothricidae, Lepidotrichidae] GE05
    |    `--L. pilifera GE05
    `--Euzygentoma GE05
         |--+--Maindronia Bouvier 1897 C92 [Maindroniidae GE05, Maindroniinae]
         |  `--Lepismatidae GE05
         `--Nicoletiidae GE05
              |  i. s.: Squamigera latebricola Espinasa 1999 SE12
              |         Squamatinia algharbica Mendes & Reboleira in Reboleira et al. 2012 SE12
              |         Texoreddellia Wygodzinsky 1973 F90
              |           |--T. aquilonalis Espinasa & Giribet 2009 SE12
              |           `--T. texensis F90
              |         Metrinura Mendes 1994 SE12
              |           |--M. russendenensis (Smith & Shipp 1977) SE12
              |           `--M. subtropica Smith 2006 SE12
              |         Subtrinemura Smith 1998 SE12
              |           |--S. anemone (Smith 1988) SE12
              |           |--S. excelsa SE12
              |           `--S. spelaea Smith 1998 SE12
              |         Onychomachilis fischeri MP08
              |--Nicoletiinae SM14
              |    |--Hemitrinemura SM14
              |    |--Nicoletia Gervais 1842 F90
              |    |    |--N. meinerti Silvestri 1905 F90
              |    |    |--N. phytophila Gervais 1844 SE12
              |    |    |--N. ruckeri Silvestri 1905 F90
              |    |    `--N. tergata Mills 1940 F90
              |    |--Trinemophora W39
              |    `--Trinemura Silvestri 1908 SM14, SE12 [Subnicoletiinae]
              |         |--*T. novaehollandiae Silvestri 1908 SE12
              |         |--T. anemone SW91
              |         |--T. calcaripalpa Smith 1998 SE12
              |         |--T. callawae Smith, Eberhard et al. 2012 SE12
              |         |--T. cundalinae Smith, Eberhard et al. 2012 SE12
              |         |--T. excelsa Silvestri 1920 [incl. Nicoletia australis Wom. 1936] W39
              |         |--T. norfolkensis SW91
              |         |--T. novaecaledoniae W39
              |         |--T. russendenensis SW91
              |         |--T. troglophila Smith 1998 SE12
              |         `--T. watsoni Smith 1998 SE12
              `--Atelurinae [Ateluridae] SM14
                   |  i. s.: Gastrotheus disjunctus SW91
                   |         Atelurodes Silvestri 1916 SM14
                   |           `--A. similatus SW91
                   |         Atelura Heyden 1855 W39
                   |           |--A. disjuncta Silvestri 1908 W39
                   |           |--A. formicaria A99
                   |           `--A. similata Silvestri 1908 W39
                   |         Crypturelloides mindeni Smith & Veera Singham 2011 SM14
                   |         Grassiella Silvestri 1898 SM14
                   `--Atopatelurini SM14
                        |--Pseudogastrotheus Mendes 2003 SM14
                        |--Arabiatelura Mendes 1995 SM14
                        |--Rasthegotus Mendes 2001 SM14
                        |--Ecnomatelura Wygodzinsky 1961 SM14
                        |--Allatelura hilli Silvestri 1947 SM14
                        |--Galenatelura deflexa Smith 2009 SM14
                        |--Troglotheus Smith & McRae 2014 SM14
                        |    `--*T. bifurcus Smith & McRae 2014 SM14
                        |--Australiatelura Mendes 1995 SM14
                        |    `--A. tasmanica (Silvestri 1949) SM14
                        |--Ausallatelura Smith 2007 SM14
                        |    `--A. ordoarmata Smith 2007 SM14
                        |--Dodecastyla Paclt 1974 SM14
                        |    |--*D. bifida (Schäffer 1897) (see below for synonymy) SM14
                        |    |--D. crypta Smith & McRae 2014 SM14
                        |    `--D. rima Smith & McRae 2014 SM14
                        `--Atopatelura Silvestri 1908 SW91, W39
                             |--A. furcifera Silvestri 1908 SM14
                             |--A. hartmeyeri Silvestri 1908 W39
                             |--A. kraepelini Silvestri 1908 W39
                             `--A. michaelseni Silvestri 1908 W39

*Dodecastyla bifida (Schäffer 1897) [=Lepismina bifida, Atelura bifida, Grassiella bifida; incl. G. silvestrii Escherich 1903] SM14

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[A99] Ax, P. 1999. Das System der Metazoa II. Ein Lehrbuch der phylogenetischen Systematik. Gustav Fisher Verlag: Stuttgart (translated: 2000. Multicellular Animals: The phylogenetic system of the Metazoa vol. 2. Springer).

[C92] Crawford, R. L. 1992. Catalogue of the genera and type species of the harvestman superfamily Phalangioidea (Arachnida). Burke Museum Contributions in Anthropology and Natural History 8: 1–60.

[F90] Ferguson, L. M. 1990. Insecta: Microcoryphia and Thysanura. In: Dindal, D. L. (ed.) Soil Biology Guide pp. 935–949. John Wiley & Sones: New York.

[GE05] Grimaldi, D., & M. S. Engel. 2005. Evolution of the Insects. Cambridge University Press: New York.

[K-P87] Kukalová-Peck, J. 1987. New Carboniferous Diplura, Monura, and Thysanura, the hexapod ground plan, and the role of thoracic side lobes in the origin of wings (Insecta). Canadian Journal of Zoology 65: 2327–2345.

[MP08] Mendes, L. F., & G. O. Poinar. 2008. A new fossil silverfish (Zygentoma: Insecta) in Mesozoic Burmese amber. European Journal of Soil Biology 44: 491–494.

[SE12] Smith, G. B., S. M. Eberhard, G. Perina & T. Finston. 2012. New species of short range endemic troglobitic silverfish (Zygentoma: Nicoletiidae) from subterranean habitats in Western Australia's semi-arid Pilbara region. Records of the Western Australian Museum 27 (2): 101–116.

[SM14] Smith, G. B. & J. M. McRae. 2014. New species of subterranean silverfish (Zygentoma: Nicoletiidae: Atelurinae) from Western Australia's semi-arid Pilbara region. Records of the Western Australian Museum 29: 105–127.

[SW91] Smith, G. B., & J. A. L. Watson. 1991. Thysanura. Zygentoma (silverfish). In: CSIRO. The Insects of Australia: A textbook for students and research workers 2^nd ed. vol. 1 pp. 275–278. Melbourne University Press: Carlton (Victoria).

[TW05] Terry, M. D., & M. F. Whiting. 2005. Mantophasmatodea and phylogeny of the lower neopterous insects. Cladistics 21: 240–257.

[W39] Womersley, H. 1939. Primitive Insects of South Australia: Silverfish, springtails, and their allies. South Australian Branch of the British Science Guild: Adelaide.

Last updated: 31 May 2022.