I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with that identification based on the images seen on

http://www.palaeos.com/Invertebrates/Arthropods/Insecta/Insecta2.htm

The short cerci seem a better fit for this strange group of thysanurans. Also, this specimen seems to lack ocelli and have 3-segemnted tarsi. Neat find. My Peterson guide says the family is only known from Florida and Texas.

I think the cerci were longer and were broken off. It is in alcohol now but I had it in with a camel cric*ket that might have kicked it around some, snapping the ends off the circi. Either way, it sounds like a neat find. I keep specimens in case others want them so I would be happy to send this to someone if they pay the shipping.

I did a little more research using Neartica's species list and google. Only 3 neartic species are still in this subfamily.

Texoreddellia texensis Ulrich 1902 = presumably the texan species alluded to in Peterson's

Nicoletia tergata Mills 1940 = presumably the Floridian species alluded to in Peterson's

Allonicoletia tendeiroi Mendes 1992 = type specimen from California and described after Peterson's was published

So this should be either Allonicoleta tenderoi ( < 5 tarsal segments and ocelli absent) or Tricholepidion gertschi (5 tarsal segments and ocelli present) A new family for the guide either way. Good stuff.

Great I agree.... I just had an idea what it could be and I did not check what else is there. It might even be a new species. Not many people collect this and not many know these species....

and have him/her inspect the specimen then.

Okay, I've just emailed Michael S. Engel who has written about these critters. I'll look for others.

Very nice specimen. It looks like a Tricholepidion to me (Zygentoma), a very interesting group of primitive silverfish (one that I segregated into its own family, Tricholepidiidae, a couple of years ago). It is difficult to see the tarsal structure but the overall Gestalt is like that of Tricholepidion. Nice find!

It looks like an immature tricholepidiid (adults would be more darkly pigmented), although I still cannot discern the tarsal formula. The very poorly developed eyes (appear to have some pigmented areas where eyes would be in the adult) can be developmental. It would be quite interesting to confirm the tarsal formula.

Ahhhh, nice that he came to the same conclusion... but you should really take a closer look at the number of tarsal segments...

I have a 25x macrosope for viewing and I can try to shoot some distinct tarsal images at 22x and enlarge them.

I wondered if it could be a new family since I neither recalled nor found anything on bugguide that bore close resemblance. I found this in the vicinity of the American River on a collecting field trip with Will Chatfield-Taylor. I think we each got only a couple non-duplicate specimens that day and he's already posted his and identified them. I'll be checking his for names as I post them :-)

Wow Jim, who'd have thought it would be something so strange. I thought it was a firebrat or something like that. I did get everything of mine identified so it should all be in "your images" section on my account page! Thanks again for the collecting trip, I had a great time!