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Photo#92573
yellow springtail - Tomocerus

yellow springtail - Tomocerus
Windham, Rockingham County, New Hampshire, USA
Size: about 1.7 mm
Notice long fourth abdominal segment.

Images of this individual: tag all
yellow springtail - Tomocerus yellow springtail - Tomocerus

Moved

Tomocerus s.l. sp.
A juvenile specimen.
Jim: about the 4th abdominal segment. It is not long at all. It is about as long as the 3rd abdominal segment. Note that Tomoceridae are Entomobryomorpha, that is with dorsally not visible prothoracic segment. Start counting segments: 2 thoracic ones (a large one followed by a short one), 6 abdominal segments (4 broad ones, and 2 terminally tapering ones). Note that the 3rd and 4th abdominal segments are about the same length. In fact the 3rd is a bit longer then the 4th. This is a characteristic for all Tomoceridae.

 
Thank you for explaining, Frans.
One question: What does s.l. mean? Or is it s.L?

 
s.l. = sensu lato
A standard latin phrase used to indicate that the taxon name should be interpreted in the broad sense. The opposite is s.s. = sensu stricto.
In case of a genus name sensu lato can be used to include all possible closely related genera or subgenera. With respect to Tomocerus, taxonomists use 2 different generic hierarchies. The 'lumpers' use Tomocerus as base genus and apply all related genera as subgenera. The 'splitters' consider all related (sub)genera of Tomocerus as separate genera. This is just a matter of arbitrary choice. Conceptually the difference in meaning can be neglected.

 
Good!
I need a little refresher course in Latin, especially Latin abbreviations :-)

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