Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Clickable Guide
Moths Butterflies Flies Caterpillars Flies Dragonflies Flies Mantids Cockroaches Bees and Wasps Walkingsticks Earwigs Ants Termites Hoppers and Kin Hoppers and Kin Beetles True Bugs Fleas Grasshoppers and Kin Ticks Spiders Scorpions Centipedes Millipedes

Calendar

TaxonomyBrowseInfoImagesLinksBooksData
Photo#384452
Springtail sampler

Springtail sampler
Pelham, Hampshire County, Massachusetts, USA
April 7, 2010
Size: Biggest ones ~2 mm
I was really wishing I had a different lens with me when I found these. There were lots of these colorful springtails--at least three different species--climbing around on a stick that was floating in a vernal pool.

Edit: The springtails in this image in fact represent the three orders of Collembola! Left to right: Entomobryomorpha, Poduromorpha, Symphypleona.

Images of this individual: tag all
Springtail sampler Springtail sampler - Isotomurus Springtail sampler - Sminthurides aquaticus Springtail sampler - Podura aquatica

Isotomidae + Poduridae + Sminthurididae
Nice overview of the biodiversity in body shapes and colours in Collembola!

 
Thanks!
So is this purple one Sminthurides aquaticus, as well as the pink and (little) yellow ones in the other photos? We have very few images for this species, so I can add some cropped ones to the guide.

Also, I noticed that none of the Podura aquatica images in the guide show this bright orange color. Is this a different life stage, or what?

 
You are right
that purple Sminthurides specimen could be different from aquaticus.
So the purple one = Sminthurides sp.

The orange Podura aquatica are juveniles. Adults are more bluish with more reddish antennae and legs.

Comment viewing options
Select your preferred way to display the comments and click 'Save settings' to activate your changes.