View allAll Photos Tagged springtail
a tiny Collembola from leaf litter in the garden - thought it might have been Tomocerus minor but grateful thanks are owed to Frans Janssens for pointing to Lepidocyrtus (Lanocyrtus) cyaneus.
Just playing to see if this was possible. A globular springtail. ISO800 F2.8 focus stacked from 2 pics
Shot of a springtail taken at 4:1 with an MPE-65- base shot at F16 gives sufficient DOF for the whole bug to be in focus but the whole image is slightly soft. I have overlaid some sections on the springtail taken at wider apertures which are much sharper. Optimum for 4:1 magnification is probably F6.3 for good detail and reasonable DOF
One from today's images of my garden survey. Possibly a Group 1 female ~1.15 mm, although there is slight pigmentation on abd.6. Gender determined by presence of sub-anal appendage (SAA). See note on image insert.
[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
Group 2 - where abd.6 in adults is dark.
Canon MP-E65mm Macro (at 5x) + 1.4x tele-extender + 25mm extension tube + diffused YN24EX flash. Cropped.]
This looks Identical to one of my previous uploads-so I wonder at the Schaefferia ID- as this one has at least 5 ocelli, possibly 6.... and no anal spines.
www.flickr.com/photos/89396233@N00/8721656523/in/photostream
Another venture into the micro world of springtails for #30DaysWild day 15.
I think this is a female deuterosminthurus pallipes. These insects are so small that to the naked eye they just look like pollen that's fallen from the flowers above.
We have a healthy backyard population of these tiny globular springtails. I believe the antennal characters would place these in Dicyrtomidae - ie last segment shorter than preceding segment (seen below, and in link). AFD lists only the one species from Tasmania, Dicyrtomina tuberculata Womersley 1933.
Compost bin scenes. A springtail along with a whole lot of springtail skins (the white things). Focus stacked using zerene
Lots of these springtails today, resting under pieces of slate that I put out for them. We have a largish garden, but I only find them in one corner, behind the shed. Perhaps the shelter from the sunshine there is a factor.
Anyway, as part of the survey I'm doing, I photograph as many different colour forms as I can. I also attempt to get focus on the underside at the very rear (the small abdomen) as it's possible to determine gender from some of the structures there. With this one I can't tell whether I see a bit of sub-anal appendage (would be a female) or a slightly enlarged genital papilla (might indicate male). There's also a little bit of pigmentation on abd.6, but I think I'd still opt for Group 1. The lack of red pigmentation would support this too. All part of the fun I suppose!
[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. This individual ~1.1 mm in length. Cropped.]
Today's search for examples of this Katiannid springtail, provided this maturing female. She's ~1.25mm in length. The largest I've seen have been 1.4mm.
I've noticed that as some females mature; they produce an increasing amount of orange/red pigmentation spots on the dorsal surface of the abdomen. On some individuals, this extend over the entire dorsal surface, making them difficult to distinguish from the red-backed males. This individual has a single orange pigment spot. Perhaps she will develop more in later instars.
Globular springtail on a fence. Like the way it touches the surface with it's antenna before starting to graze again. Taken with a little sportscam with a cctv lens with no IR cut filter
Photography of the small and very small can get somewhat addictive. Once you feel you have gained a reasonable level of mastery in one area, you are tempted to try your hand at something smaller. This goes on until you cannot actually see your subject with the naked-eye. That's certainly what happened to me.
Chasing tiny globular springtails is occupying a lot of my time at the moment, particularly as numbers of most of my favourite insect subjects, are decreasing. Even with my Canon MP-E 65mm macro lens at its maximum magnification of x5, these individuals (many less than 0.5mm), still appear very small.
There's not a lot of reference material available about the "next stage" options for pursuing the "very small" but specialists like Edward Nurcombe ( Eddie The Bugman) and Andy Murray (andybadger) generously share their experiences here on Flickr. Their approach is to attach Extenders and extension tubes to the MP-E lens. This is one of my first attempts at that approach; the lens at full magnification with a Canon 1.4x Extender and a Kenko 36mm extension tube. It's an unwieldy arrangement, very close-focussing and with a field of view of only around 5mm. Results are acceptable (although I need more practice!) and it's necessary to use quite wide apertures to control diffraction. This was at F5.6.
This looks like another Sminthurinus igniceps. These are the predominant globular springtails under fallen leaves in my local churchyard at the moment. I've posted quite a few images of these, but I particularly liked this one the on the surface of the yellow leaf with no "distractions". There are also a few Dicyrtomina ornata around too. They look massive in comparison and fill half the field of view with this setup!
Small globular springtail inside a hollyhock flower. This was about 1.2 metres up the stem. Focus stacked using zerene. See www.flickr.com/photos/lordv/32269006178/ for a 3D version
Springtails on puddle. Some springtails live on water surfaces but many like these get stuck if they land on water and often drown. I do tend to rescue them if I see them - have found a credit card is best for this.
A brief encounter between half-millimetre springtails, which I assume are the two extreme colour forms of Sminthurinus aureus..?
Another one from today; a medium-sized individual ~0.85 mm. Frans is speculating that there may be two distinct groups; Group 1 where abd.6 in adults is pale, and Group 2 where abd.6 in adults is dark. Not sure if this is a mature specimen, but seems to be Group 2.
[Part of a garden survey of the "novel" springtail Katiannidae Genus nov.1 sp. nov. that I'm doing for FransJanssens@www.collembola.org to establish the size and differences between the various instars.
Canon MP-E65mm Macro (at 5x) + 1.4x tele-extender + 25mm extension tube + diffused MT24-EX Twinlite flash. Cropped.]