CAMPODEA

campodea, a small whitish wingless insect with long flexible antennae and a pair of elongated caudal appendages. the best-known species (_campodea staphylinus_) has a wide distribution and is equally at home in the warm valleys of south europe, in the subarctic conditions of mountain tops, in caves and in woods and gardens in england. it lives in damp places under stones, fallen trees or in rotten wood and leaves. although blind, it immediately crawls away on exposure to the light into the nearest crevice or other sheltered spot, feeling the way with its antennae. its action is characteristically serpentine, recalling that of a centipede. campodea is one of the bristle-tailed or thysanurous insects of the order aptera (q.v.).