Two tiny, common, grey Springtails

Entomobrya nivalis

I agree the specimens look different. I guess this is due to difference in lighting conditions (e.g. angle of light). The diagnostic dorsal pattern on the abdomen seems to be consistent though.

… Frans Janssens, 4 August, 2008 - 4:22am

Moved

Moved from Frass.

… Jim McClarin, 17 February, 2008 - 4:39am

Two species

These look like two species to me. You could crop this image and re-post it on this same page rather than frass it. That way the critters would be twice as large and more identifiable. To my untrained eye it looks like the upper left one could be Willo*wsia bu*ski and the lower right is Entom*obrya sp.

Okay, I've just cropped your image for you.

(Asterisks disguise these terms from search engine so the image doesn't appear in search results for those words.)

… Jim McClarin, 17 February, 2008 - 3:54am

I'm dubious

I doubt these are two species, but what I may do is try & find more, photograph them & post images. I have photos, but they aren't too good. I'll look through them to see if I can find some more examples to show.

… Jonas Insinga, 17 February, 2008 - 11:48am

On second though...

after a while of looking at this photo, I bet your initial inclination was probably correct & that they two fellows are indeed two species. Odd how they can be found side by side like this. :P

… Jonas Insinga, 4 April, 2008 - 11:50pm

I once found three species living together under bark:

… Jim McClarin, 5 April, 2008 - 5:28am

I'm hoping

that Frans Janssens of collembola.org will have a look at these and give you an expert opinion.

… Jim McClarin, 17 February, 2008 - 8:25pm

2 more photos

I put 2 more photos up in the 'ID Request' section.
http://bugguide.net/node/view/169968/bgimage
http://bugguide.net/node/view/169969/bgimage

… Jonas Insinga, 18 February, 2008 - 9:31am

Frassed

Moved from ID Request.

… Jonas Insinga, 12 February, 2008 - 9:20am