Springtail Survey
A large individual conveniently hiding under a piece of terracotta pot that I left of for them! Frans is speculating that there may be two distinct groups; Group 1 where abd.6 in adults is pale, and Group 2 where abd.6 in adults is dark. This is a mature (~1.35 mm) Group 2 individual. The presence of a sub-anal appendage (SAA) shows it to be a female. It had been thought (not sure how this arose) that the red-backed individuals where invariably male. Definitely not the case.
[Part of a garden survey of the "novel" springtail Katiannidae Genus nov.1 sp. nov. that I'm doing for FransJanssens@www.collembola.org to establish the size and differences between the various instars.
Canon MP-E65mm Macro (at 5x) + 1.4x tele-extender + 25mm extension tube + diffused MT24-EX Twinlite flash. Cropped.]
Springtail Survey
A large individual conveniently hiding under a piece of terracotta pot that I left of for them! Frans is speculating that there may be two distinct groups; Group 1 where abd.6 in adults is pale, and Group 2 where abd.6 in adults is dark. This is a mature (~1.35 mm) Group 2 individual. The presence of a sub-anal appendage (SAA) shows it to be a female. It had been thought (not sure how this arose) that the red-backed individuals where invariably male. Definitely not the case.
[Part of a garden survey of the "novel" springtail Katiannidae Genus nov.1 sp. nov. that I'm doing for FransJanssens@www.collembola.org to establish the size and differences between the various instars.
Canon MP-E65mm Macro (at 5x) + 1.4x tele-extender + 25mm extension tube + diffused MT24-EX Twinlite flash. Cropped.]