Globular Springtail - Sminthurus bivittatus

Moved

… Lynette Elliott, 2 November, 2006 - 7:39am

Sminthuridae

Hi Lynette. This specimen seems to resemble well with the recent image of Tom Murray.

… Frans Janssens, 25 October, 2006 - 6:19am

Thanks

However, I've found two pages one is spelled Sminthuridae and the other is Sminthurididae. I can find both on the internet, so do you know which is current or correct?

… Lynette Elliott, 25 October, 2006 - 7:43am

Actually, we think both are

We seem to remember Tom Murray commenting on this so you can check with him. Unfortunately we don't know which genera are in which family, but Tom might!

… john and jane balaban, 25 October, 2006 - 4:39pm

Sminthurus bivittatus

Hi Lynette, John and Jane. Sminthuridae and Sminthurididae are two different families. To find out more about the systematics of Collembola you might want to visit collembola.org. There you can find the taxonomic hierarchy from family level to species level for more than 7000 species of Collembola. And much more...

… Frans Janssens, 31 October, 2006 - 10:18am

Thanks

I think creating family names like that is just wrong!! :)

… Lynette Elliott, 2 November, 2006 - 7:36am

Sminthurididae

Hi Lynette. It seems weird to create such names, I agree. This is the story behind it: in the beginning there was only Sminthuridae. At a given time taxonomists decided to create a subfamily of Sminthuridae to organise all related species. According to ICZN name rulings the name of this new subfamily became Sminthuridinae (= Sminthurid (= stem of family) + inae (= standard suffix used to indicate subfamilies)). After some time when more species were added to this subfamily, taxonomists decided that it was time to raise the subfamily to family level. In line with standard name rulings Sminthuridinae became Sminthurididae (idae = standard suffix for families). Are you still with me? ... ;-)

… Frans Janssens, 2 November, 2006 - 9:13am