On the 14th of this month, when I came into my lab, I found this little critter crawling around on the shelf next to all of our chemicals that we use for research. I'd never seen one before. So I did what any rational human being would: I caught it in a plastic test tube and stuck it in the freezer. With the help of the key at bugguide.net [1], I was able to determine that it is a firebrat (Thermobia domestica), a type of silverfish. They are called firebrats because they are often found in warm places, like under heaters and ovens.[2]
As you can see, the three tails on this guy (on the right side) have been broken off.[3] This may have happened before I found him, while I was trying to catch him, or while he was frantically trying to escape from the ever-colder test tube in the last moments of his life. This defect makes him less than ideal as a museum specimen, so I'll be contributing his remains to DNA sequence analysis.[4]
Notes:
[1] See http://bugguide.net/node/view/3/bgpage.
[2] See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firebrat.
[3] His antennae, on the left side of the photograph, are tucked back under him, but look to be intact.
[4] For equally interesting insects which met the same fate, see my post Cleaning House.
As you can see, the three tails on this guy (on the right side) have been broken off.[3] This may have happened before I found him, while I was trying to catch him, or while he was frantically trying to escape from the ever-colder test tube in the last moments of his life. This defect makes him less than ideal as a museum specimen, so I'll be contributing his remains to DNA sequence analysis.[4]
Notes:
[1] See http://bugguide.net/node/view/3/bgpage.
[2] See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firebrat.
[3] His antennae, on the left side of the photograph, are tucked back under him, but look to be intact.
[4] For equally interesting insects which met the same fate, see my post Cleaning House.
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