Springtail
Related Category: Zoology: Invertebrates
common name for any of the minute, primitive wingless insects of the order Collembola. The springtail is named for a springlike mechanism on the underside of the abdomen.
Springtails are cryptozoa frequently found in leaf litter and other decaying material, where they are primarily detritivores, and one of the main biological agents responsible for the creation of soil.
Springtails, including Snow Fleas are so different from other insects that many experts believe they may not be insects at all. But at the very least, they have their own Order - the Collembola.
Springtails and bristle-tails live in damp concealed places - under stones or tree-bark, in moss, and in the decaying vegetable or animal matter which serves as food for most of them. Some species, however, eat fresh plant-tissues.
Springtails are very small and primitive insects. They even belong to a subclass of the insects, along with among others the Silverfish and Coneheads: the Apterygota (=wingless). Within this group not even the adults ever have wings.
Order Collembola (springtails)
Suborder Arthropleona (elongate springtails)
Family Entomobryidae ...
The collembolans or springtails
Collembola are small insects, and adults seldom exceed 6 mm in length. Most species live under stones or logs and in moist soil or leaf litter. They feed as scavengers on algae and decaying matter.
The breeding diet consists of springtails (flightless insects that live in the soil), flies, aphids, spiders, marine worms, seeds, and berries. The winter diet shifts to include mussels, crustaceans, and beetles.
Four-toed salamanders also prey on other beetles, spiders, springtails (Collembola), flies (Diptera), true bugs (Hemiptera), ants (Hymenoptera), and moths [17,32]. Larvae eat zooplankton and other invertebrates.
Springtail
Squid
Squid - Neil Vincent
Squid Loligo
St Andrew's Cross Spider
St Andrew's Cross Spider, Argiope keyserlingi
St Andrew's Cross Spider, juvenile
Stacey Bien (front): Runner-up, TAFE and Tertiary ...
 See also: Spider, Arthropoda, Reptile, Snail, Arachnid
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