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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.
This is in no way original, but I want to record use of alcohol hand gel as a temporary mounting method for springtails. Alcohol hand gel is readily available in supermarkets and chemists. There are many different brands but choose a colourless one containing 70% alcohol (which although not stated, I think is isopropanol?). You probably won't be able to find a brand without perfume, so you're going to smell nice (?) after using it! Buy the cheapest you can find (always a guiding principle). The full list of ingredients of the one I use is: alcohol (isopropanol?), water, glycerin, acrylates/alkyl acrylate crosspolymer, perfume, triethanolamine, aloe barbadensis extract, phenoxyethanol. There's a lot of other stuff in there in addition to the alcohol, but the extra gloop turns out to be useful. Put a springtail (or other small insect) on a clean microscope slide and put a drop of the gel on top, then a coverslip. The gel and the coverslip allows you to roll the specimen around to see the features you want - an advantage of the gel consistency. I am able to get very good resolution of specimens mounted in this way, including being able to resolve manubrial teeth and macrosetate insertion points, something I have not been able to resolve using other methods. I have also taken specimens from the gel and then cleared them or put them back into 70% alcohol for storage without any problems, so I would definitely recommend a bottle of hand gel in your springtail kit.
Disappointed today to find that this tiny Slime mould has been totally consumed overnight. Not necessarily by these Springtails, more likely Slugs. Think this is the same one that goes through several colour changes. Also forming is, I think, Common Grey Disco. If I remember correctly, these are moisture loving Collembola that have no furcula.
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.
My first springtail! These are a basal clade that are hexapods but not true insects. Vernal pool, early spring.
First Dicyrtomina sp. springtail of the season on the underside of a fallen leaf. Focus stacked using zerene
Globular springtail on damp wheelie bin lid. Focus stacked using zerene.
See www.flickr.com/photos/lordv/15751892450/ for a 3-D version
Springtail (Entomobrya sp) with a size of around 2 mm, made with magnification factor 14 and f/5.
It is a single picture which has been made in our garden without using a tripod, while the springtail was busy doing his thing. The large version can be seen at
Members of Collembola are normally less than 6 mm long. Most species have an abdominal, tail-like appendage, the furcula, that is folded beneath the body to be used for jumping when the animal is threatened. It is held under tension by a small structure called the retinaculum and when released, snaps against the substrate, flinging the springtail into the air. All of this takes place in as little as 18 milliseconds (ref. Wikipedia).
Firstly, apologies for uploading the twenty or so springtail photos earlier- edit... 35! just had to get over a backlog of less than great photos, so anyone who reads this- don't feel you have to comment on them. Most of them aren't particularly good, just wanted them up for interest really...
This was taken on the first day I got back to Tairua in New Zealand- I do love these Dicyrtomina springies. They just look joyously funny. If you look closely, you can make out the stitch marks joining the front and back halves together.
This was a tragedy. I was following her around as normal, on a leaf, and she got tangled in some spider web. Unfortunately, things deteriated until this. I realised then how much I've grown to love these great little springtails. I couldn't remove the web, so sadly, that would have been that, I think. However, you can see some of the cool springtail mechanics so as sad as it was to watch her struggle, I was still looking, going, Wow! Difficult.
Another from a series of shots I'm doing for FransJanssens@www.collembola.org to establish the size and differences between the various instars of this Katiannid springtail. Here's a juvenile instar from our Staffordshire garden this morning.
The same Dicyrtoma fusca individual as in the previous image; this time adopting a rather unusual stance. Reminds me of a dog playing. You can almost imagine it growling!
Dachshund
Date: Circa 1912
Source Type: Postcard
Printer, Publisher, Photographer: Hugo Wessler
Postmark: None
Collection: Steven R. Shook
Remark: Springtail postcards were typically mailed with a cellophane sleeve to protect the mechanical spring. Therefore, while the postcard may contain a message and address, it is rare to find a springtail postcard with an affixed stamp and postmark.
Copyright 2010. Some rights reserved. The associated text may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of Steven R. Shook.