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December 3, 2018

 

A Globular Springtail that I found under a shell on an old stump in our back yard.

 

Brewster, Massachusetts

Cape Cod - USA

 

Photo by brucetopher

© Bruce Christopher 2018

All Rights Reserved

 

...always learning - critiques welcome.

Tools: Canon 7D & iPhone 6s.

No use without permission.

Please email for usage info.

 

Laowa 90mm f/2.8 2x Macro with stacked Raynox DCR250 & DCR150

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!).

 

Found upon algae washed up by the sea.

Very fast species that redily jumps.

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.

Back to our little, less gaudy Tasmanian critters. This was grazing on fungi. A regular winter find. Dicrytomidae

In the grooves of a concrete pot covered with moss.

A very small springtail on moss

Isotomurus.sp

A large individual conveniently hiding under a piece of terracotta pot that I left of for them! 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. This is a mature (~1.35 mm) Group 2 individual. The presence of a sub-anal appendage (SAA) shows it to be a female. It had been thought (not sure how this arose) that the red-backed individuals where invariably male. Definitely not the case.

 

[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.]

Mountaineering springtails. Focus stacked using zerene

This is another shot of the globular springtail that I posted earlier. I had assumed that it was Katiannidae Genus nov.2. Frans asked for a dorsal shot to exclude Katianna nr schotti, but this is the nearest to a dorsal shot that I got.

 

Any use Frans and what are the differentiating features?

Happy New Year to All.

 

On a leaf in the garden. Springtails can survive the cold so this is a subject to photograph after the insects have gone for the winter.

With so many of these globular springtails in our garden wildlife pond, it's very tempting to spend far too much time photographing them. I couldn't resist some shots this morning because after all the rain, the level of the water is up to the undersides of the slate edging stones. The springtails are climbing onto these to feed and that makes photography a bit easier. They are only a few millimetres from the water surface though!

 

This is a female about 1mm long. A composite image produced from two shots; merged in PSE. I liked this one because she was slightly reflected in the moisture film.

 

Canon MP-E 65mm macro (at x5) + 1.4x tele-extender + 32mm extension tubes + MP24-EX TwinLite flash.

How about a very very tiny butt? This Springtail obliged, posing facing both ways.

Another Collembola

One of only 2 shots of springtails, I got in Colombia, from Finca Alejandria Aug 2017

left : Bourletiella hortensis, almost gone now for this year...

right : Entomobrya multifasciata, the whole year to find in my garden...

Sprintail from a short Safari in the garden Dicyrtomina saundersi

On Explore 10/03/17

 

This one is Dicyrtomina saundersi it seems. Had other shots but a friend needed this shot of it's backside for a positive ID. On our present trajectory, these are the kinds of creatures that will inherit a wrecked but probably repairable planet from us.

This piece of Cordyline leaf was frozen to the lawn in our garden this morning, but the springtail seemed happy. I understand that they produce glycerols that act as a natural anti-freeze.

 

This is a composite of two images, one for the "overall" appearance and one to show the sub-anal appendage (SAA). The presence of this indicates a female.

A local Staffordshire churchyard has a thriving colony of these springtails. They seem to congregate on a damp area of wall. They have only recently been reported in the UK and are designated Katiannidae genus nov.1 sp. nov..

 

As there has been lots of rain, I visited the churchyard this morning to check on numbers. The wall was swarming with them. I did a few shots and when processing them, noticed that there was a spermatophore on this one. I presume that it's been produced by a male of this particular species.

 

Canon 5D3 + MP-E 65mm macro (at x5) + 2x tele-extender + MT-24EX flash.

Springtails on decaying leaf from the compost bin

Springtail raft . Springtails on a small puddle on a compost bin lid

Composite, not to scale. Clockwise from top:

Pogonognathellus longicornis, Dicyrtomina minuta, Orchesella cincta.

Only about 1mm long.

Shot at a bit above 4 1/2x with the mpe65.

Nov 1 springtail on apple leaf, garden.

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

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.

This is a shot from my garden of a whole bunch of springtails (Collembola) on the surface of the water in a plant pot. They were being moved round by the wind were clambering onto this small piece of wood and on each other.

Can name some but not all of them

This one kept me quite an afternoon busy . There were 2 specimen between layers tree bark, but deep, so that my light dit not reach them. Occasionally they came closer to the edge and I had to take my chance. Also he has a short right antenna !

3 pictures merged for the sharpness in photoshop cs6.

Love these little things... About 2 mm or so in length.

This one is showing its eversible vesicle cleaning tube.

 

100mm L macro with full set of Kenko extension tubes (thanks Steve for the use of)...

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6ZGV4ikHi4

A selection of Globular Springtail portraits captured at Swell Wood.

Sminthurus mencenbergae

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