Observations from the field show that paperfish are increasingly appearing in various public and private buildings and are spreading widely in Germany. This is also shown by a comparison with other European countries Querner, Erlacher and Pospischil (2017) provide an overview of the paperfish species found in homes and buildings. These include the silverfish (Lepisma saccarina), paperfish (Ctenolepisma longicaudata), ghost fish […]

Observations from the field show that paperfish are increasingly appearing in various public and private buildings and are spreading widely in Germany. This is also shown by a comparison with other European countries

Querner, Erlacher and Pospischil (2017) provide an overview of the species of fish found in homes and buildings. These include the silverfish (Lepisma saccarina), paperfish (Ctenolepisma longicaudata), ghostfish (Ctenolepisma calva), ovenfish (Thermobia domestica), combfish (Ctenolepisma lineata) and the rarely occurring antfish (Atelura formicaria). While ovenfish, combfish and ghostfish hardly play a role in homes, silverfish are known as unpopular roommates in the population. As the paperfish is very similar to the silverfish in appearance, lifestyle and the damage it causes (Kahn, 2018), the two species have been confused time and again for some time.

The paperfish Ctenolepisma longicaudata has been recorded worldwide in human dwellings and was first described in South Africa, where it was found in houses. In 1905, the Bavarian forestry scientist and entomologist Dr. Karl Escherich wrote a treatise on “The System of Lepismatids”, with reference to damage to books and collections by Ctenolepisma longicaudata. Individual reports date back to the early 19th century, when the paperfish was still referred to as an “indoor nuisance pest”. In Australia, Lindsay researched the biology and diet of the paperfish as early as 1940 with the support of the British wallpaper industry. Between 1998 and 2017, individual discovery reports followed from Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Austria, the UK and the Czech Republic. “For the first time in Germany – the paperfish” was the title of a 2007 DpS article by Sellenschlo, which also included an identification key for paperfish. However, it was not until 10 years after the official first discovery in Hamburg that museum experts became aware of the topic through the articles “Die Papierfresser kommen” (Die Zeit, 2017) and “Neuer Materialschädling in der Kulturlandschaft (Landsberger, Querner 2017). Until then, the paperfish had not been a major issue for the general public or for most pest controllers. Meanwhile, the Dutch research and advisory station KAD has been researching the topic since 2002 and Norway has also reported an escalating increase from 2016 (511 cases) to 2018 (3433 cases), Norway (Aak et al 2019).

In addition to museums, libraries and archives, the paperfish can also increasingly be found in private homes or in nurseries, schools, retirement homes, hospitals, offices and storage rooms, food businesses, shops and kitchens. According to evaluations of insect sticky traps in daily practice, paperfish are being found more and more frequently than silverfish, which is also confirmed by experience from the Netherlands (Schoeslitsz 2014).

The fact is that the spread of paperfish is being promoted with the help of the increasing globalized mail order business, when millions of parcels and packages are delivered from house to house every day and the “paper eaters” have an edible transport medium at their disposal. The intermediate warehouses of wholesalers, logistics companies or parcel services serve as distribution points if there is a population of paperfish there. From research reports, the widespread distribution of paperfish in neighboring European countries such as the Netherlands and Norway has been known for some time, while in Germany there are still no official surveys on their distribution among the public. According to current Norwegian and Dutch studies, it is mainly modern buildings in which the climate with 20-26°C and 40-50% humidity favors the reproduction and spread of paperfish.

Our own observations over the last two years show a significant increase in the number of paperfish found each year, which is also confirmed by surveys of SBK companies and statements from pest control advice centers in Germany and Switzerland. At the same time, a parallel increase in the volume of parcel and courier shipments can be observed; in 2000, the volume of shipments was 1.69 billion shipments per year, in 2018 it was already 3.52 billion shipments and an increase to 4.4 billion is forecast by 2023 (data from Statista).

In the upcoming special edition, there will be a focus on “Paper restoration”. Read more on the topic of “Copper corrosion on paper” by paper conservator Veronika Schrieder M.A. (a KEK model project – carried out in 2019 by the Saxon State and University Library Dresden (SLUB) in cooperation with the ZFB – Zentrum für Bucherhaltung GmbH Leipzig) in RESTAURO 5/2020, which will be published on July 10, 2020, https://shop.georg-media.de/restauro/einzelhefte