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Springtails. Proisotoma minuta. 10X. Taken handheld using my microscope camera rig. Single shot showing the extremely narrow DOF
Collembola froma short safari in my garden on a cold day. First time in a while looking for this guys.
Springtails - Found on a damp, fungus filled bridge over a stream at Snipedales. Quite a while since I have photographed these tiny creatures.
Someone sent me some springtails to identify which they had found grazing on a church wall. My first thought was Hypogastrura viatica but I've spent two days banging my head against the chaetotaxy and they're not! They have 111 clavate tenant setae (c.f. H. viatica: 233; H. purpurescens: 232), so H. manubrialis is a possibility but frankly I'm unconvinced by the mucro, so they're going to remain as Hypogastrura spp. However, I'd welcome comments from anyone who is better with these than I am.
UPDATE: This is Hypogastrura manubrialis.
My first Sminthurides aquaticus, just where they ought to be - around the edge of a pond. They were so much smaller than I expected - the smallest ones scarcely visible to the naked eye. But I was in luck, as the water was partly frozen over. When I pressed gently on the surface, tiny pale specks jumped about like fleas - springtails doing what they do best. They moved slowly otherwise, but it was awkward leaning down and keeping my gear from falling in or disturbing the ice. The bitter cold didn't seem to bother them anyhow.
Canon EOS 5D mark III, Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x, Kenko extension tubes, Canon Speedlite 600EX-RT (handheld, Live View).
65+68mm, f/6.3, 1/200, ISO 1600.
Decided on a trip to the local woodland today to look for globular springtails. Spent about an hour turning over hundreds of pieces of bark and fallen branches. Found just one example; this Allacma fusca that was under the second piece of bark that I looked at!
It kept creeping along in crevices and provided few opportunities for decent shots. This was one of the better ones. It was very "glossy", so quite a bit of reflection on it. A smallish example (~ 1.8-2.0mm), this is only the second time I've seen this species.
Canon 1D3 + MP-E 65mm Macro (at x5) + MT24-EX Flash. Cropped a bit.
Pogonognathellus longicornis
Although July is pretty much the low point in the springtail calendar, the contrast between this year and last year is stark. While we've had the hottest ever day, we've also had plenty of rain and moderate temperatures. Out and about I've been finding springtails pretty much everywhere, recording the following species at the number of sites shown:
Entomobrya nivalis: 7
Deuterosminthurus pallipes: 4
Entomobrya nicoleti: 4
Orchesella cincta: 2
Entomobrya multifasciata: 1
Isotoma viridis: 1
Pogonognathellus longicornis: 1
Tomocerus minor: 1
Springtails about, but nothing of great interest. However, this has to count as a good July for springtails.
Spotted this juvenile Dicyrtomina saundersii moving over a piece of terracota that had a spider in residence.
The poor thing got caught in a few strands of silk on the edge. It struggled for a few seconds to no avail, it even everted it's vesicles in an attempt to free itself.
As I'm a softy, I gave it the gentlest of nudges and it leapt free! Unfortunately it's leap took it into an even worse predicament, and was left dangling by it's legs and furcula from another part of the web.
Fortunately this time it was able to free itself quickly and escaped to freedom!!
Edited following Frans' helpful comments below:
I have to admit that springtails have been on the back burner recently while I've been focusing mostly on spiders. The weather hasn't helped but it's not an excuse, mostly I've been working on spiders. I have been recording springtails regularly, but I haven't posted anything publicly because I haven't found anything particularly interesting - until today. This morning the vacuum sampler turned up a whole bunch of these. After some rusty fumbling, they keyed out to be Sminthurus viridis (which I have found several times recently), but specifically Sminthurus viridis ssp. cinereoviridis (thanks to Frans Janssens for help with the I.D.).
Sminthurus viridis ssp. cinereoviridis has 2 spots on small abdomen. In the ecovariant nigromaculatus of S. viridis, 3 spots are present: www.collembola.org/images/stach/1956/Sminthurus-viridis-1... There are supposedly difference in chaetotaxy of the setae on the subcoxa of the third leg, but I have found it impossible to image these. Steve Hopkins was reluctant to accept nigromaculatus as a separate species. As a dyed-in-the-wool taxonomic lumper, I wouldn't disagree. Frans Janssens calls it "Sminthurus viridis (ecovariant nigromaculatus)", which is said to be associated with sandy areas, heathland, moors, heather, etc. My specimens came from the wettest of wet water meadows alongside the River Soar and have 2 abdominal spots, so Sminthurus viridis ssp. cinereoviridis it is.
These are very small and speed around, very seldom staying still. I think this is a baby, and this was a lucky shot!
Globular springtail walking on damp greenhouse glass (with a milk bottle top behind suppling a little colour)
I was so happy to get this shot of this tiny Springtail, they are quite fast and virtually impossible to see, let alone manually focus on one!!
A trip out to Messingham with the MPE-65 - not used this for a while, but quite pleased with the results today.
Globular springtail on the greenhouse roof. Focus stacked using zerene. See www.flickr.com/photos/lordv/49191724643/ for a 3D version
Another shots of the "novel" springtail Katiannidae genus nov.1 sp. nov.. This one is struggling to right itself following a "spring" and showing its ventral surface and the two-pronged furca. The furca is held in tension under the abdomen and when released, propels the springtail into the air. This is used an an escape mechanism.
Collembola Sminthurides aquaticus var. levanderi
A very large population persists in my lair. I wonder if this type of collembola is present all year, I will be able to study this question with the autumn and the winter that arrive