The same day that I found the mating Sminthurides springtails I also found these Pauropods! Although this wasn't the first time I'd seen Pauropods, it was the most I've seen at one time. They were all darting around, making it hard to get an accurate count, but I probably saw between 10-15. This one ran right by a small Onychiuridae springtail, providing a good idea of how tiny even the largest of the Pauropods were.

This is such a beautiful little springtail. The markings are outrageous for the UK ! Springtails are the bomb. The business. They rock.

Springless springtail in leaf litter X4. Probably Kalaphorura burmeisteri

Baby springtails on a clay pot

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.]

Globular springtail on a grass blade

These are photos of my untamed yard. This is section of my tiny creek when it is low.

Taken in Battle Ground, Clark Co., WA, USA

Sminthurides penicillifer ssp. bifidus

Springtails scaling the north side of a slug. Focus stacked using zerene

Globular springtail on a damp water barrel lid with a flower behind to give a little reflected colour

Theses are the first globular springtails I've knowingly ever seen, let alone photographed. They are also the smallest things I've ever attempted to 'tog, being about 1mm long. These shots are (un)comfortably beyond 1:1, being taken with a Raynox DCR250 & 45-175 zoom lens at the full 175mm. Discovered this one walking around on my shed door-handle.

If you want to see how this is done properly, check out these two photostreams: www.flickr.com/photos/odonataman/

and www.flickr.com/photos/50342657@N05/

Thanks to Eddie the Bugman for ID!

My First Globby is not another in the new series of Labybird titles such as The Ladybird Book of the Hipster, but my first globular springtail. I've been a fan of springtails for many years (isn't the Internet marvelous?), but most springtails tend to be elongated. Globbys, as you can see, are different. And globbys have the cute factor in spades. If I'm ever going to make it onto the Countryfile calendar, it'll be with a globby. If globbys were the same size as ladybirds they'd win hands down. But Dicyrtomina saundersi, like most of its globby friends, is only 1.5 millimetres long.

While I was trying to get a shot of a springtail on the move, I had no idea that another tiny collembola was there. Had I known, I would have focused on that cutie!-Taiwan

Springtails on their way to work on the rim of a compost bin - mainly Ceratophysella species

AJC Springtails: Isotomurus Identification Guide

collembolla.blogspot.com/2018/04/isotomurus-identificatio...

Shot at 3.7:1 about 2mm long

Vertagopus arboreus

This little guy on a wild calendula flower

Welcome back old friends from that lovely wet leaf litter.

Went back and found it again

www.nickybay.com

Globular springtail on a fence post. Focus stacked using zerene

Globular springtail series. On a damp water barrel lid with milk top behind.

Focus stacked using zerene

Watch THE MOVIE! I made of the things I observed this day!

Are these springtails? I found them on rocks and on ice around the shore of Lake Ontario, Canada. It seemed like they were walking on water but I think there may have been a thin sheet of ice that I couldn't see. You can see what I mean in the video during the clip of the earth worm in the water. They are also hard too shoot because they are so active. Constantly crawling around or jumping at light speed. (maybe a little faster) It looks like they have very short wax secretions.

In the video:

planarian flatworms

earth worm

spring tails / snow fleas?

an insect with wings and cool antenna

algae

About the video:

This is a collection of video clips I took one day. I was photographing algae with my new macro lens and noticed all kids of things moving around in the cold water. The lake is still frozen over, yet these insects and little creatures have adapted to the extreme temperatures. I also made the music. I used reason to make the drums and garage band to record the dulcimer and some vocals as well as adding fx. The song isn't done yet but it's coming along nicely.

Tiny springtails around 1mm body length - Proisotoma minuta - feeding on dew covered fungal mycelium.

Globular springtail grazing on a water barrel

Partially descaled - the scales are easily lost and this species can only be accurately confirmed by the the presence of simple (rather than three-pointed) spines on the dens.

Uncropped shot taken at 5.2:1 with the monster.Just seeing if it was possible :) shot was handheld- well hand rested

see www.flickr.com/photos/lordv/82887579/ for setup

not sure of id.

I was in the most beautiful gardens this afternoon, jaw-droppingly pretty. I was there for three hours and all I did was head for the first patch of moss on an old paving slab and stay there until the place closed. Cool finds though. These ones looked more like other photos of S. trinotatus than S. bimaculatus so that's my guess. Though to be honest, there's not an awful lot in it. And I think I need a better shot of its arse too to be certain...

I'm going back Tuesday, weather permitting and actually looking at the flowers.

Globular springtail on a camelia leaf. I always wonder how these tiny things get 4 or 5 feet up in a bush

Could these be the M and F of Entomobrya atrocincta?

Thanks Frans for the ID. OK- what I thought was the first instar of S. nr. bifidus has grown a bit bigger and done this. Still red eye patches but the pattern is turning quite distinctive. They look almost identical to those on the Sphaeridia pumilis photos on Frans' collembola site. Any ideas? They definitely seem to be a bit aquatic though. I've seen them on and off over the last week or so and 90% of the time they're zooming about on the water.

collembolla.blogspot.com/p/checklist.html

Springtail about 3.3mm body length in an interesting pose. Think this is another Orchesella villosa. You can clearly see the spring tail.

This little Springtail was a challenge to photograph. I am not sure how to get better pictures of these little creatures without upgrading my equipment. They are hard to even see without magnification. I am utterly fascinated by them. One of the many creatures it took me fifty years to discover :)

Nothing to this worm riding now where's the spice ?

The springtail is about 1mm long

On Indian Cucumber

In spite of all the rain and good numbers of springtails over the last few weeks (dominated by Dicyrtomina saundersi), Isotomids have been largely missing. However, the recent haul of leaf litter had good number of Isotoma viridis, a species I have not seen since last winter.