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Photo#1344341
Springtail?

Springtail?
Albion, Calhoun County, Michigan, USA
March 1, 2017
I have been surprised this past couple of weeks to see creatures that I thought must be some kind of beetle showing up in my cropped photos. Another mystery that just would NOT be squeezed into a beetle box! I got a notice from iNaturalist.org that a friend in Texas had just submitted an elongated-body springtail and when I looked at it it matched another of my beetle pictures. Some colleagues (Vincent Lefebvre and Luis Miguel Constantino) from Researchgate.net suggested the elongated-body springtail Tomocerus minor and it does seem to match up. Like almost every springtail I looked up, this one has not been submitted from Michigan. In fact hardly any springtail has been submitted from a winter month in other states either. So if this is really the springtail I suspect it is, it gets a double whammy (State and month). If it isn't I'll really appreciate your telling me what it really is! Thanks!

Moved

Tomoceridae
Diagnostics:
1. 3rd antennal segment = very long and longest antennal segment
2. 3rd abdominal segment (= the 5th trunk segment) = longest abdominal segment

 
Thanks Frans
It's nice to have this explanation on how to diagnose Springtails. Until a few days ago I had never (consciously) seen one. Now I suspect every creature I don't know to be some species of Springtail! Last year everything was a barklouse after Ken told me the first couple of new visitors were!

Moved
Moved from ID Request.

 
Thanks Ken
I'm working on another kind of springtail in another window, I think.

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