2018 February 24

 

   Best to stay indoors in this weather.  We can still see a few commensal invertebrates.  Here’s a Common Firebrat  from my apartment building.  If you compare this one with the Grey Firebrat shown on January 26, you can easily see that they are separate species, not just minor colour variations of one species.  The Grey Firebrat has a longer, more slender abdomen and it is a more streamlined creature than the Common Firebrat.  The abdomen of the Common Firebrat is relatively quite short.

 

Common Firebrat Thermobia domestica (Thysanura:  Lepismatidae)  Jeremy Tatum