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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..
We have a wildlife pond in our Staffordshire garden. As the seasons progress, numbers of aquatic springtails in the pond vary considerably. At the moment there are many hundreds (or thousands) clustered around the edge on the slate paving and jumping around in the water. Mainly, there are immature early instars.
Here there is a mature female Sminthurides aquaticus on the left and a much smaller male on the right. The males have "angled" antennae with modified bristles. The shape enables males and females to lock their antennae during courtship The smaller male is then often lifted into the air. note that the female is a feeding instar. The green colour on the dorsal surface of the abdomen is due to gut contents.
Canon 1D Mk IV + MP-E Macro (at x5) + full set on Kenko extension tubes + YN24EX twinlite flash. Cropped a bit.
A couple of pictures from todays macro session at Swell Woods. Lots of Globular Springtails to photograph which is always good fun!
My favourite lens; the Canon MP-E65mm Macro is on my camera most of the time. I use it this time of the year for photographing springtails and other soil meso-fauna. It has been giving the dreaded "error 01" message intermittently and I've decided to finally get it repaired.
Knowing I might be without it for a while, I spent some time in the garden this morning, searching under fallen leaves. I've been seeing quite a few Sminthurinus springtails recently. After a long period finding nothing, I decided to have just one more check. The final leaf I checked had this underneath it. It's one of several "novel" species that have been reported in recent years in the UK. It's designated Katiannidae Genus nov.1 sp. nov.. This looks like an immature individual.
I have found this species in a couple of locations in Staffordshire and neighbouring Shropshire. I once even travelled to Sheffield Botanical Gardens to see my first one. It's great to know that I've actually got it in my garden too. I nice final find before my lens goes away!
Canon MP-E65mm Macro (at 5x) + 1.4x tele-extender + 25mm extension tube + diffused MT24-EX Twinlite flash. This individual ~0.7mm.
A Dicyrtomidae species.
I love the little dragonfly print it has on its back. Is that the pale "spring" you can see amongst the legs??
I've been neglecting my garden colony of Katiannid springtails recently. I've looked from time to time, but only seen some immature instars. Today I had a more intensive search.
Interestingly, there were none of the "typical" Group 1 and Group 2 adults, just this one "dark" form and two of "pale" forms (see previous image). Abd.6 has some pigmentation, but is paler than abd.5.
[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. As a result of the initial findings, Frans is speculating 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 MT24-EX Twinlite flash. Three images blended in PSE. Slightly cropped.]
This is the globular springtail Sminthurides aquaticus, we have lots around our garden pond. I managed to capture some shots of this female exhibiting "grooming" behaviour.
They manoeuvre a saliva droplet around themselves using the three legs on one side. They (somehow) support themselves using the legs on the other side. In this shot, it has allowed a view of some detail on the underside. Two shots blended together.
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.
This lagoon gets covered with masses and masses of springtails on the water. They are so interesting to look at, but a little awkward to photograph. the scenery shot shows the white "tide lines" on the lagoon. The white is entirely composed of these masses of little critters. Neanuridae?
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 male from our Staffordshire garden today; lateral and frontal views. Rarely do they oblige like this; pausing side-on and then turning face-on!
I went on a wildlife walk with a group of Shropshire naturalists on Wednesday. None of the group had experience of Collembola (springtails), so I said I'd try to photograph those that I saw. Typically, many I hadn't seen before and couldn't identify!
This is such as example. It's one of the Poduromorpha, which are slow-moving soil and leaf-litter dwellers. This one was quite active and at first I thought it might be a very yellow Kalaphorura burmeisteri. It doesn't seem to have the correct body shape; being widest at the penultimate abdominal segment. All help gratefully received!
[Update: Thanks to Eddie and Frans for the ID]
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.
Sometimes called Snow fleas, they are approx 1/6" or 2-3mm in size and are rather difficult to photograph well with standard gear. They live in the soil and decaying matter, they also seek cover under Mushroom caps.
I've been neglecting my garden colony of Katiannid springtails recently. I've looked from time to time, but only seen some immature instars. Today I had a more intensive search.
Interestingly, there were none of the "typical" Group 1 and Group 2 adults, just one "dark" form (see next image) and two of these "pale" forms; this one ~1.3 mm. The pale forms looked identical, the other individual was just fractionally smaller.
[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. As a result of the initial findings, Frans is speculating 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 MT24-EX Twinlite flash.
A predatory mite with a captured springtail. Found in leaf-litter in our Staffordshire garden this morning. A mini-drama in action ...
Now the weather is getting cooler and damper, I generally seek-out garden springtails to photograph at this time of year. I've just added a Blog post to my (recently-updated) website to give a little information about globular springtails and what I am seeing at the moment.
I've also given a description of the photographic set-up that I use.
I (generally) find these Katiannid springtails in just one area of the garden. It's behind the shed and is sheltered from the sun. I put out pieces of slate and terracotta for them. They tend to congregate underneath.
I occasionally see these very pale forms; it makes the pigment spots really stand out. It wouldn't stand still though and I managed just one decent shot before I lost it! These Katiannids can run fast but (in my experience) are less inclined to "spring".
December 3, 2018
A Globular Springtail that I found under a shell on an old stump in our back yard.
Brewster, Massachusetts
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The only globular springtail species that I managed to photograph in our Staffordshire garden this morning.
This is one of the dark forms if Sminthurinus aureus. Like many that I see, this individual has a paler head.
They are a challenge for aspiring macro-photographers, so I had to have one. With some patience you’ll find them on a leaf somewhere not to wet. And then the real challenge begins, finding one that stays in focus. A great sport I thought.
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 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. This one ticks another box!
It appears that as females of this species mature, some develop red pigmentation on the dorsal surface of the abdomen. This can make them difficult to distinguish from males. Others seem to develop less red pigmentation or none at all. Frans suggested that feeding and breeding instars may differ, with the breeding instars showing the red. This individual is a feeding instar (note green gut contents) but has a lot of red.
Note also the "white" areas on the head and lateral areas of the abdomen. I don\'t see this very often, but it is similar to a specimen that David (David_W_1971 ) photographed last year and posted a couple of days ago.
The only way to confidently identity females is to see the sub-anal appendage (SAA). This is difficult to see in photographs. I think though, that one may just be visible in the left-hand insert. Frans will confirm (or not!).
I had to work hard to get this picture. This one and it's friend in the picture next door were on a large plastic container. I had to lie down in a puddle with my head at a silly angle, then wait for them to hopefully come passed me.
Little Katiannid springtail in our Staffordshire garden this morning. I think this may be this season's first sighting of Katianna schoetti. I see a few in the garden each year.
This individual is about to "spring". They adopt a particular posture prior to springing, it "disappeared" just after I took this shot. I think it may have been "spooked" by the much larger Dicyrtomina species scuttling-by in the background. Who knows!