~Platyarthrus hoffmannseggii and Collembola~

Well this is rather an interesting find I had, at first I thought it an immature Common Woodlouse, but as I watched it I started to think there was something a bit different about it, firstly it is completely blind and it was using its front appendages to feel its way around its environment, secondly there was an even smaller one nearby which suggested that this was not a juvenile. Well when I got home I trawled the net and it turns out that this is Platyarthrus hoffmannseggii and it is a myrmecophilous isopod, the term myrmecophilous refers to anything that associates with Ants and indeed there was an Ants nest under the brick that this was on. I believe that these are scavengers within Ant nests.

 

There was one final surprise with this find, I only spotted it when cleaning dust spots whilst processing, there is a teenie tiny Globular Springtail in the shot, now these Isopods are about 4-5mm long, which means the Globular Springtail is very tiny indeed, I have included a crop of it in the comments, I thought it might be Sphaeridia pumilis, but not convinced with my initial ID after reading Andy's comment, so for now a mystery Collembola :o)

 

I should note that in this shot the Isopod was on the ground and not on the brick.

 

VIEW ON BLACK

Done