Eddie The Bugman
~Stenacidia violacea~
Thought I'd do a Stenacidia violacea set, I have a small area at Wilford Claypit, its a small patch of exposed ground surrounded by vegetation, there is a bit of moss there as well, I find quite a variety of Collembola in this small area and Stenacidia violacea is one of the more frequent visitors.
The females of this species grow to about 0.7mm and the males to 0.5mm, the females are generally a reddish colour, although I have seen some variation here. I have only ever found one of the males (See comments) and they are small, they have long antennae that are modified to interlock with the females antennae for part of their mating ritual, unfortunately I have yet to capture this. The male pictured here was about 0.3-0.4mm long and very hard to get any in depth details, I need more magnification LOL :o)
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~Stenacidia violacea~
Thought I'd do a Stenacidia violacea set, I have a small area at Wilford Claypit, its a small patch of exposed ground surrounded by vegetation, there is a bit of moss there as well, I find quite a variety of Collembola in this small area and Stenacidia violacea is one of the more frequent visitors.
The females of this species grow to about 0.7mm and the males to 0.5mm, the females are generally a reddish colour, although I have seen some variation here. I have only ever found one of the males (See comments) and they are small, they have long antennae that are modified to interlock with the females antennae for part of their mating ritual, unfortunately I have yet to capture this. The male pictured here was about 0.3-0.4mm long and very hard to get any in depth details, I need more magnification LOL :o)
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