Ctenolepisma lineata is a primitive insect

Insect

Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...

 of the order Thysanura

Thysanura

Thysanura is an order of insects, encompassing silverfish and firebrats, known for their three long caudal filaments.The families Machilidae and Meinertellidae of the jumping bristletails were once included with Thysanura....

. It is generally similar to the closely related Silverfish

Silverfish

Lepisma saccharina, frequently called silverfish, fishmoths, carpet sharks or paramites, are small, wingless insects in the order Thysanura...

 but can be distinguished by being rather stouter and less shiny with all appendages (antennae

Antenna (biology)

Antennae in biology have historically been paired appendages used for sensing in arthropods. More recently, the term has also been applied to cilium structures present in most cell types of eukaryotes....

 and 3 "tails") noticeably longer. The abdomen

Abdomen

In vertebrates such as mammals the abdomen constitutes the part of the body between the thorax and pelvis. The region enclosed by the abdomen is termed the abdominal cavity...

 is often marked with dark brown lines and the species is sometimes called Four-lined Silverfish.

This species is native to southern Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 but is now found throughout most of the world as an accidental introduction although it is absent from polar

Polar climate

Regions with a polar climate are characterized by a lack of warm summers . Regions with polar climate cover over 20% of the Earth. The sun shines 24 hours in the summer, and barely ever shines at all in the winter...

 and cooler temperate

Temperate

In geography, temperate or tepid latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. The changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally relatively moderate, rather than extreme hot or cold...

 regions (e.g. the British Isles

British Isles

The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...

). It is found both indoors and outdoors and can be a nuisance pest

Pest (animal)

A pest is an animal which is detrimental to humans or human concerns. It is a loosely defined term, often overlapping with the related terms vermin, weeds, parasites and pathogens...

.

Recent studies on this species in Europe suggest that there is enough geographical variation to justify splitting into several species. One form which has already been given specific status is Ctenolepisma almeriensis

Ctenolepisma almeriensis

Ctenolepisma almeriensis is a species of primitive insect of the order Thysanura. Members of this species were once attributed to the widespread species Ctenolepisma lineata but there are small but consistent differences which mark this as a separate species...

of south-eastern Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

.