Springtail on a water barrel. Focus stacked using zerene

A very pale individual from the garden this morning; ~1.1 mm in length. I find these pale speckled forms particularly attractive.

This species seems to have a particular liking for crevices in stonework. They tuck themselves away there and thus offer reasonable opportunities for photography. They are also disinclined to "spring".

[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. Four images combined using Zerene Stacker. Cropped.

Taken in Battle Ground, Clark Co., WA, USA

Thanks to Frans Janssens for ID.

Springtail on a clay flowerpot #1

Anurida marítima.

Some of you will have seen my posts in this group of terrestrial springtials, AKA Collembolla. Collembola are hexapods not insects and are one of the most widely spread and numerous of all animals in the world. They live virtually everywhere; car parks and city streets, in sand, up trees, on water, in houses, on plants and very commonly in and around soil. Wherever you go, looking with a hand-lens, there will most likely be a collembolan scampering away from you. In sheer numbers, they are reputed to be one of the most abundant of all macroscopic animals, with estimates of 100,000 individuals per square meter of ground. I say macroscopic but they are tiny, most are only 2-3mm long.

They're officially the deepest living land animal, with a new species, Plutomurus ortobalaganensis, found in Krubera-Veronja cave in the Western Caucacus at a depth of 1,980 metres (6,500 feet) below ground. It was tempted out using cheese.

Desoria species of Collembola happily live on the summit of Mount Everest, while another genus in Tasmania lives for certainly part of its life, underwater, eating crunchy diatoms.

Collembola are one of nature's ultimate niche fillers, able to find a way into almost any environment in the world, given time. And time is something they've had a lot of. In 1919 a fossil collembolan, Rhyniella praecursor was found in the Rhynie chert. The chert dates to around 410 million years old, meaning that collembolans were one of the very first arthropods to become terrestrial.

This one, Anurida maritima (seashore springtail), is a cosmopolitan collembolan of the intertidal zone and is often found in aggregations of several hundred strong on the surface of rock pools. I had never seen one before today.

Sminthurides penicillifer ssp. bifidus

Springtails in the compost bin. Ceratophysella sp.

I have noticed that the very young ones soon hide when one photograghs them. This is the same one I posted yesterday, hiding from me, under the flower! The adults seem less nervous and do´nt seem to mind. Had to get to ground level for this one!

This creature is approx 1.5mm - 2mm long. Hopefully these IDs are sounder than my previous efforts...

See previous pic for another angle.

I went back to the walled garden at Weston Park this morning. There was a good selection of globular springtails to see and photograph. This is a generally uncultivated grassy area with some fruit trees (mainly apple). The springtails were under fallen leaves on the wet grass.

Top left is a dark-form of Sminthurinus aureus and underneath it, another form of Sminthurinus aureus similar to the one I saw earlier in the week. The others are all Sminthurinus elegans (some darker than others). The individual bottom-right lacks the mid-dorsal stripe. These are designated Sminthurinus elegans forma ornata.

Here is a very small springtail

Sminthurus hispanicus

Another new globular Springtail for me. I'm currently enjoying a warmer Christmas holiday than I would ordinarily find in the UK, and whilst exploring I found a couple of these characters for my collection.

I was hoping for a more natural variety of shots, but these were hidden in long(ish) grass and I couldn't track any through the undergrowth so had to settle for these two that had landed on my khaki backpack and neoprene lens case.

7 images @ 6-7X magnification

Springtails in the compost bin X4Same FOV. Ceratophysella bengtssoni

Sprintails Katiannidae

I went back to a local Shropshire churchyard today looking for springtails for the Shropshire Springtail Atlas. Only saw one additional species, but thought I'd also try to get some better Sminthurinus niger shots. I'd seen a couple on a single gravestone previously. Well, I went back to the same gravestone and all I could find was this single individual.

I don't see this species very often, but they have always been difficult to photograph. They just don't seem to keep still and being very dark (and only around 1mm), are difficult to keep track of through the viewfinder. I did manage a couple of decent shots though.

This was at 8x magnification (MP-E lens at 4x + 2x Tele-extender). The image was also cropped by around 20%

Two globular springtails on a water barrel lid. Focus stacked using zerene

Springtail on a clay pot

Globular springtail X4. Focus stacked using zerene. Dicyrtomina saundersi

Globular springtail on a water barrel

28 mm reversed - stack of 2 pictures

Springtails at Swell Wood a few days ago. Many thanks to Max Thompson Photo and Ellie Hilsdon who scurried around finding likely-looking logs while I mostly sat at the picnic table!

stacking of 19 pics

Springtails on mould X2. Focus stacked using zerene

SDIM3327

White blind springless springtail on the underside of a fallen leaf

A white, blind, springless springtail. Probably Kalaphorura burmeisteri. Found in leaf litter

Globular springtail on a water barrel. Focus stacked using zerene.

Springtail X4 . Sminthurinus domesticus on a clay pot

Another raft of springtails

Globular springtails on a fence post. Focus stacked using zerene.

Globular springtail Sminthurinus niger. 0.96mm body length

Globular springtails on the side of my large pond just near the water line. I assume they are Sminthurides aquaticus although I'm puzzled that it is only the small ones picking each other up by the antennae - I thought this was part of their courtship behaviour ?

Strange mould with springtails X2. In the compost bin

ID thanks to Frans.

A juvenile globular springtail under a fallen Beech leaf in our Staffordshire garden this morning.

I'm assuming it's Sminthurinus elegans. In adults, the markings are much darker. I don't recollect seeing them this colour before (but I don't recollect much these days)!

Globular springtail X4. Focus stacked using zerene. Taken handheld using a 4X microscope lens on a sony mirrorless body

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

Globular springtail on a clay pot

Springtails on a clay pot X4. Sminthurinus domesticus and Xenylla sp.

Globular springtail on water barrel lid

I've been attempting to photograph the various instars of this globular springtail species for Frans Janssens (FransJanssens@www.collembola.org) from collembola.org. He requested that I also include a scale bar (particulary for the juvenile instars), so I had a play with PSE this morning to attempt a method of doing this.

For springtails, I'm currently using a standard set-up; MP-E Macro lens set (at 5x magnification) + 1.4x tele-extender + a 25mm extension tube. I used this same arrangement to photograph a ruler marked in millimetres and overlaid the image with the white scale. I then merged that with a transparent layer and saved it. I can now use this transparent overlay to position the scale. I'm not sure whether there's a simpler method of doing this, but it seems to work!

This is a mature male of the species. You can see that it's ~1.1 mm long. I'll probably improve this by making a 2 mm scale as well, sub-divided into tenths!