So far, this is the highest-magnification portrait of a springtail that I have photographed. This individual was completely calm, making it possible to capture a high-quality close-up image. What I find particularly interesting is that you can clearly see the colorful scales covering its body, as well as its eyes. In total, it has 12 eyes — 6 on each side.

Canon R6 Mark II + extension tubes, bellows, and a vintage LOMO microscope objective. Focus stacked from approximately 70 focus layers.

2026-05-17

Finally got a decent shot of one of these tiny springtails. This is a 2x magnification and slightly cropped. Definitely takes some patience but it's worth it.

Found : Meeuwen - Gruitrode, behind Pollismolen in a muddy place of the forest.

First time I found this total dark form. 2x the same springtail on the photo.

A 1mm springtail (Dicyrtomina minuta forma ornata) crawling slowly along fresh snow.

First shot with my new tripod (first tripod, actually).

Lens: old sigma 70-300mm f/2.8 nikon

If anyone would care to give some advice as to affordably achieveing a wide DOP in supermacro; I am considering buying a 50mm and coupling ring or something to begin my supermacro experience, but something tells me the DOP is going to be way too narrow.

These springtails i found eating bacteria or alga slime on a tree trunk. They are from the family Neanuridae, i can't say the correct species as i am not a collembola expert. They are between 1 and 2mm big.

Die Spingschwänze fand ich, als sie ganz ruhig Bakterien und Algen auf einem Baumstamm weideten. Sie stammen wohl aus der Familie der Neanuridae, genauer kann ich sie nicht bestimmen.

Bild vom Pilzfotografentreffen 2020 in der Eifel.

Panasonic Lumix G9

Panasonic Lumix 45-175mm

Mikroskopobjektiv PLANX 4x

f5.4

ISO 800

1/6s

132mm

-0,3ev

stack of 84 pictures

Fascinating little creatures. HBBBT

A springtail from a garden macro safari and it is Entomobrya intermedia

Another springtail. 3 image handheld focus stack. Shot with OM1 and the Olympus 60mm macro with 16mm extension tube and MC20 teleconverter. Godox flash and AK diffuser.

Sminthurides aquaticus springtails living a precarious existence on a common frog (Rana temporaria). Ignore the 90mm on the EXIF, this was taken using the 25mm Laowa super macro at 2.5X magnification on the sensor.

A shot from a recent springtail safari I think a Katiannidae

sorry for quality - diffraction, cropping etc - these are V small!

A third springtail species at the same location - another Entomobrya I believe. This is another tiny one, maybe 2.5 mm.

(Thanks Frans for the species ID 👍)

on moss

Yesterday, I found my first ever Bourletiella hortensis; one of the globular springtails. It was in our Staffordshire garden. Today I went searching in the same area and found another. I assume it's the same species anyway!

Although described as "common and widespread" in the UK, I note that the excellent Shropshire Springtail Atlas (our neighbouring county) has no records and the Staffordshire atlas just one record from the 1920s. Whatever, it's always a treat to find a "new" species.

up : male

down : female

They explore a stamen of Echium vulgare.

This 0.75mm long springtail was wandering around on a carpet of fungus on the underside of a piece of fallen bark

Vane Coppice, Coalbrookdale.

A Pseudisotoma sensibilis on a leafhopper for a second. A just in time shot with a lot of luck. :-)

Globular Springtail - Dicyrtomina saundersi

Around 0.8mm - 0.9mm long, these springtails have appeared from nowhere on the lumps of suet that I feed to the the rest of my menagerie. I assume that they are Sminthurinus domesticus, a species which survives only in indoor locations in this part of the world.

on pond ice, Sminthurides aquaticus, left, and maybe Ptenothrix marmorata on the right.

Very small species from steppe

springstaartje op kapsel mosplantje

All the rain has its benefits.....the fungus is appearing everywhere, This little Springtail was making this jelly its home.

It has been a while since I went on a Springtail safari in the back garden. These are from a recent trip to the bins.

Found upon algae washed up by the sea.

Very fast species that redily jumps.

A ruler in cm photographed with tamron 90 mm and kenko extension tubes, the springtails photographed on the same way and then the 2 pictures merged (only the measurement lines). So you can see the dimensions. A special for Frans Janssens :o)

All the snow has finally cleared from our Staffordshire garden and I'm able to recommence my regular springtail hunts. I'm pleased to see that this species is still present; having seen two individuals in the last couple of days.

Now; I usually record this on Flickr as Katianna nr schotti. Looking on the listings of the UK Collembola Recording Scheme at Roehampton, this is listed as Katianna schoetti. I'm assuming that these are synonyms for the same species, but not really sure!

Hier zie je beter het oog dan bij de vorige foto.

Here you can see the eye better than in the previous photo.

The background is a slice of potato where light is focused on.

Springtails putting up the Christmas decorations. Focus stacked using zerene

Orchesella sp. or something else?

I was out looking for Katiannid springtails for my garden survey when this Dicyrtomina saundersi wandered into view. I've been neglecting these recently, so took the opportunity for a few shots.

This one has just adopted the first stage pre-spring position. She did it several times, but didn't complete the manoeuvre. I think it's a female because of the pale "cheek" immediately below the eye. This area is often pigmented in mature males.

MP-E65mm at 5x + kenko extension tubes

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!

Another individual similar to the one I posted previously. Again, underneath a fallen beech leaf on the lawn. Looks like a dark form of Sminthurinus aureus.

Canon MP-E65mm Macro (at 5x) + 1.4x tele-extender + 25mm extension tube + diffused MT24-EX Twinlite flash. This individual ~0.75mm.

A shot from a recent springtail safari possibly Vertagopus arboreus

I just wanted to take a picture of this very little springtail when there came a quick attack from the left side. The attacker was well hidden and I couldn't see what it was.

I'm very pleased (well, quite excited really), to have found that I have lots of the aquatic springtail Sminthurides aquaticus active on our newly-created garden wildlife pond. I've been trying to get some decent shots over the last week or so.

These are very small; they range from about 1mm in length or less. I was searching around on some of the floating vegetation and photographed this individual on some duck-weed leaves. As soon as I got the image on my PC, I could see hat there were juvenile forms on the leaf too. Not only that, but there are some unhatched individuals too. The females cut into the leaf surface (as I understand it) and deposit eggs into the cut area. It looks like there are three developing eggs in front of the largest springtail and others (out-of-focus) around on the leaf surface..

With all the damp weather, there are quite a few springtails around in the garden. Whilst checking them, I found this Sminthurinus species. With the dark body and pale head, I'm wondered whether it might be S. igniceps.

Recently, I was tidying-up some Cordyline leaves that had dropped onto the lawn. I checked (as you do) to see if there were any springtails on the underside. There were several dark forms of the globular springtail Sminthurinus aureus (as in the picture) so I cut one of the leaves into into pieces around 10 cm long and placed them on the lawn in a spot convenient for photography.

Anyway, today I checked them and there were several candidates for photography. I'm somewhat out of practice, but managed to get some shots that were in focus! Of the globular springtails I saw (about 10), all were this Sminthurinus dark form.