Sminthurinus Springtail Group
I was lucky to find three different varieties of globular springtail on the same leaf. All were in the range 0.5mm - 0.6mm. I think that they are all in the genus Sminthurinus. The genus contains recognised species, some colour variants of species and others that seem to fall somewhere in between! A bit of a minefield for the uninitiated (like me).
The experts will help me, but these could be:
1. A colour variant of Sminthurinus aureus or perhaps Sminthurinus igniceps (dark body, pale head)?;
2. Sminthurinus elegans f. ornata - lateral longitudinal pigment bands, but with no mid-dorsal stripe;
3. A dark form of Sminthurinus aureus (the wide, green dorsal band is the gut contents), but not as darkly marked as the Sminthurinus reticulatus form.
All with Canon MP-E 65mm (at x5) + 1.4x Extender + MT24-EX Flash. Combined and cropped.
Sminthurinus Springtail Group
I was lucky to find three different varieties of globular springtail on the same leaf. All were in the range 0.5mm - 0.6mm. I think that they are all in the genus Sminthurinus. The genus contains recognised species, some colour variants of species and others that seem to fall somewhere in between! A bit of a minefield for the uninitiated (like me).
The experts will help me, but these could be:
1. A colour variant of Sminthurinus aureus or perhaps Sminthurinus igniceps (dark body, pale head)?;
2. Sminthurinus elegans f. ornata - lateral longitudinal pigment bands, but with no mid-dorsal stripe;
3. A dark form of Sminthurinus aureus (the wide, green dorsal band is the gut contents), but not as darkly marked as the Sminthurinus reticulatus form.
All with Canon MP-E 65mm (at x5) + 1.4x Extender + MT24-EX Flash. Combined and cropped.