Western Sea Bristletail

Petrobius brevistylis · Order: Archaeognatha · Family: Machilidae

Also called: Jumping bristletail

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Western Sea Bristletail
Photo: S. Rae, CC BY

It lives just above the high tide line in cracks of rocks, breakwaters and harbor walls, preferring shaded, moist spots with algae and lichens. It is native to rocky coasts of Europe and northern Asia, especially the British Isles, Scandinavia and Iceland. At night it feeds on algae, lichens and detritus, and adults can live up to three years.

Source: Wikipedia

What it eats

Nocturnal feeder on algae, lichens and detritus.

Source: Wikipedia

Life cycle

Reproduces in rock crevices and juveniles develop gradually.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it is found in the US

Recorded in 2 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Maine, Arkansas.

Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.

Source: GBIF

Status: introduced in United States; native in North America; native in Canada. Source: iNaturalist

Same family (Machilidae)

Jumping BristletailJumping BristletailPedetontus saltatorSouthern BristletailSouthern BristletailDilta hibernica

Sources

  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrobius_brevistylis

Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia

Text written 2026-10-23 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-23.

How this page works

This is one bug's fact sheet. The colored box at the top says whether it is dangerous. Sections below cover how to recognize it, whether it is a pest, and how to deal with it. The US map shows which states have records; tap a state to see other bugs there.

Every fact on Bug FAQ comes from a named source (university extension sites, government agencies, GBIF, iNaturalist, Wikipedia). The source is linked next to each section. If we have no source for something, we leave it out.