Dark(ish) Sminthurinus
I have not been seeing many dark-form Sminthurinus springtails in the garden recently. The areas where I generally photograph them is particularly wet at the moment, so I decided to look at another garden spot which is at the top of the slope and a little "dryer". I've not really looked there properly before.
Anyway; interesting findings. There were reasonable numbers there, but ALL looked somewhat different from the dark forms that I generally see (with a very-dark, shiny cuticle to the head and abdomen). These were paler and less shiny, with a somewhat mottled black/brown or black/green cuticle. I didn't see any of the very-dark/shiny individuals. Also didn't see any gold/yellow forms (which rarely appear anywhere in the garden).
[All cropped similarly.]
Dark(ish) Sminthurinus
I have not been seeing many dark-form Sminthurinus springtails in the garden recently. The areas where I generally photograph them is particularly wet at the moment, so I decided to look at another garden spot which is at the top of the slope and a little "dryer". I've not really looked there properly before.
Anyway; interesting findings. There were reasonable numbers there, but ALL looked somewhat different from the dark forms that I generally see (with a very-dark, shiny cuticle to the head and abdomen). These were paler and less shiny, with a somewhat mottled black/brown or black/green cuticle. I didn't see any of the very-dark/shiny individuals. Also didn't see any gold/yellow forms (which rarely appear anywhere in the garden).
[All cropped similarly.]