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Globular springtail X4. Focus stacked using zerene. Taken handheld using a 4X microscope lens on a sony mirrorless body. The springtail is carrying some nematodes
I recently posted some springtail images from our Staffordshire garden. Frans Janssens (of collembola.org) was interested in the dark Sminthurinus forms, particularly "eyebrow" markings. I've been looking for these in the garden and concentrating on getting the eyebrow in focus for him. Here's a selection. I'm looking for more!
These have all be cropped by a similar amount.
So you may have noticed that I'm uploading a lot of Collembola shots at the moment. This is partly because I can't find much else to photograph. But mostly its because a group of us is trying to map Shropshire's springtails, something which we believe has never been done anywhere at County level before.
This is a tiny thing, 2mm max.
One from today. I've been seeing this form in the garden for a few days but haven't managed decent shots before. This one paused sufficiently for me to get several shots. I've blended elements from each shot to produce this composite.
This (to me) is a "classic" Group 1 mature (~1.25mm) form. It has a dark pigmentation pattern on the abdomen with abd.6 non-pigmented. The abdomen also has little orange/red pigmentation. The head however, does have orange pigmentation. Occasionally I see very darkly pigmented forms (see yesterday's image for example) that do not have any orange pigmentation of the head (except perhaps for a small dot). Group 1 and Group 2 forms usually do though.
[Part of a garden survey of the "novel" springtail Katiannidae Genus nov.1 sp. nov. that I'm doing with FransJanssens@www.collembola.org initially, to establish the size and differences between sexes and the various instars. As a result of the initial findings, Frans is suggesting that there are two distinct groups:
Group 1 - where abd.6 in adults is pale and there is little red pigmentation along the dorsal surface of the abdomen, and
Group 2 - where abd.6 in adults is dark and there is (sometimes) significant red pigmentation along the dorsal surface of the abdomen..
Canon MP-E65mm Macro (at 5x) + 1.4x tele-extender + 25mm extension tube + diffused YN24EX flash. Cropped.]
Globular springtail raft. I scooped these out off a water bucket with a milk bottle lid. After the photography I dropped them onto a sponge - they do eventually drown if they can't get off the water surface
Another globular springtail under a fallen Beech leaf in our garden.
I'm assuming that this is one of the colour forms of Sminthurinus aureus. I rarely see the "regular" golden form in our Staffordshire garden; usually the much darker atratus and ochropus forms. This is somewhere in-between.
Not a perfect photo but my first of a springtail. And, the first with my new mt-24ex flash. Too cold for insects but these guys were quite active living in old garden mulch. Body about 3-4mm.
The globular springtail Jordanathrix nr superba in our Staffordshire garden this morning. I don't see many of those there.
Another from my garden survey today. At ~1.3 mm, this is an adult instar (I seem to remember seeing a few at 1.4 mm last season, but nothing any longer). This has some orange/red pigmentation along the dorsal surface of the abdomen. It was thought at one time, that these "red-backs" were male. Results from last season's survey showed that females have this pigmentation pattern too.
[Part of a garden survey of the "novel" springtail Katiannidae Genus nov.1 sp. nov. that I'm doing with FransJanssens@www.collembola.org initially, to establish the size and differences between the various instars.]
Canon 5D Mk III + MP-E lens (at 5x magnification) + 1.4x tele-extender + 25mm extension tube + YN24EX flash. Two images blended in PSE. Cropped.
Crop of male springtail - cropped from www.flickr.com/photos/lordv/3049068645/. Equivalent of 11.4:1 magnification
The middle one is 1.34mm long or thereabouts. This is taken at the max magnification my set-up can achieve (about 4:1)
Llanymynech Rocks, Shropshire.
February 8, 2019
Collembola seem to have found themselves accidentally stuck in the surface film of a bowl of water. With no way to propel themselves on the surface, they are ultimately drawn to each other by natural forces. Once together they are stuck that way, and the more that add to the mass, the more difficult it is for new arrivals to avoid being drawn into the mass.
One of these springtails is different from the others. It is a little grey one - still a springtail, but very different looking.
Brewster, Massachusetts
Cape Cod - USA
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© Bruce Christopher 2019
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Mum, Dad, Myself and the dogs went for our normal Sunday morning walk in our local Woods, we couldn't believe the amount of globular Springtails (Dicyrtomina saundersi) which covered a wooden bench, they were grazing on the algae, I've never seen so many in one small area, as seen in the last picture
Had an hour round the churchyard today. Love the reflection, and the water drops on the back in this image.
A return visit to Swell Wood for more springtails. Numbers were definitely down on previous visits.
I love the lemony colour of these.
I was sitting by a Digger Wasp burrow in my Staffordshire garden waiting for one to return with a fly. I idly picked up a beech leaf from the lawn and checked underneath with my hand lens. This Sminthurinus globular springtail was there.
Ever since I've been photographing globular springtails I've been looking for one of the species with these pale abdominal spots. Of course, I've got the wrong lens arrangement on my camera, the wrong settings and nowhere suitable close at hand to rest the leaf. Anyway, I just put the leaf back on the lawn and tried a few shots.
This one's not too bad (although heavily cropped). I'm not sure if this is Sminthurinus trinotatus or Sminthurinus bimaculatus. It's a little over 0.5mm in length. Whatever, I've finally found one of these "white spot" species. I looked under virtually all the other leaves on the lawn but couldn't find another one!