Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Collembola Lubbock, 1870
Formerly considered a division of Entognatha, promoted to full class after Entognatha was determined to be polyphyletic.
Explanation of Names
The name Collembola is derived from the Latin "coll" (itself from Greek "κόλλα") meaning glue and "embol" meaning a wedge; refers to a peg-shaped structure, the collophore, on the underside of the first abdominal segment. The collophore was once thought to function as an adhesive organ.
Identification
Minute wingless hexapods. Body elongate or oval. Abdomen with 6 or fewer segments. Usually a forked structure (furcula) on 4th or 5th abdominal segment, and a small tubular structure (collophore) on the first abdominal segment. Antennae short, 4-6 segmented.
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Species with a furcula are jumpers; the furcula is normally folded under the abdomen, and the insect jumps by suddenly extending the furcula ventrally and posteriorly.
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Collembola have a ventral tube. From this tube they can everse two 'sacs'.
Eyes: The black patches on the head are the lateral eye clusters. Each eye patch is composed out of max 8 single eyes. In the Collembola bodyplan, the eye cluster has 6 fotosensitive single eyes and 2 single eyes that are sensitive to polarised light. In many Collembola the number of single eyes in the eye cluster is reduced. In many soil and cave species the single eyes are completely absent. Collembola have also frontal eyes. In the large facial space below/between the antennae you will often see a kind of dark spot. This spot marks the location of the frontal eyes. These are embedded deep into the skin and have no external (domelike) components.
See a photo of these eye features at
collembola.orgHabitat
Springtails occur in soil and leaf litter, under bark and in decaying wood, in fungi, and on the surface of water; a few occur on vegetation.
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Interesting anatomical note:
"Collembola have a quite elaborated organ at the tip of their antennae (several specialised setae, called sensilla, placed near to the tip and some have on top of that a kind of exposable and retractable bulb at the tip). This organ can be compared with our taste organ. So, I guess, the specimen is figuring out whether or not the stuff beneath its feet is consumable or not. It is a nice shot of such 'tasting behaviour'." (
comment by Frans Janssens)
Remarks
Springtails are probably the most abundant hexapods on Earth, with up to 250 million individuals per acre. (
discoverlife.org)
(This page was derived from Order Collembola, by contributed by Troy Bartlett, edited by cotinis, Tony D, John VanDyk, Beatriz Moisset, Robin McLeod, McClarinJ, charles_stephen, Wisconsin Oecanthinancy. Due to technical restrictions of BugGuide software it was necessary to create a new class page without the automatically maintained edit history of the order page.)
Print References
"Peterson's Field Guide to Insects" pages 63-65.
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Internet References
collembola.org by BugGuide contributor
Frans Janssens et al is a comprehensive site on Collembola, with lots of info and references, and many live photos from around the world.
North Carolina State University has
information.
discoverlife.org has
info and an amazing
scanning electron micrograph of a Globular Springtail.
Krister Hall has many excellent close-up photos of live Collembola from Sweden
earthlife.net has a nice
overview.
