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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Springtails and allies (Collembola) » Elongate-bodied Springtails (Entomobryomorpha) » Entomobryoidea » Slender Springtails (Entomobryidae) » Lepidocyrtinae » Lepidocyrtus » Lepidocyrtus paradoxus
Photo#153195
Brilliant metallic hunchbacked springtail - Lepidocyrtus paradoxus
Copyright © 2007 Jim McClarin

Brilliant metallic hunchbacked springtail - Lepidocyrtus paradoxus
Hollis, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, USA
October 19, 2007
Size: about 2.2 mm
Believe it or not, this is the same individual after I touched it with my alcohol-wet fine-tipped paintbrush. I don't know if it lost its scales in springing away or if the alcohol soaked the scales and made them transparent rather than metallic-reflective.

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Brilliant metallic hunchbacked springtail - Lepidocyrtus paradoxus Brilliant metallic hunchbacked springtail - Lepidocyrtus paradoxus Brilliant metallic hunchbacked springtail - Lepidocyrtus paradoxus Brilliant metallic hunchbacked springtail - Lepidocyrtus paradoxus Brilliant metallic hunchbacked springtail - Lepidocyrtus paradoxus
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Contributed by Jim McClarin on 21 October, 2007 - 4:58pm
Last updated 15 July, 2012 - 7:30am

Moved
Moved from Lepidocyrtus hirtus.
… Jim McClarin, 23 October, 2007 - 4:35pm login or register to post comments

Moved
Moved from Lepidocyrtus.
… Jim McClarin, 22 October, 2007 - 5:10am login or register to post comments

The scales got washed off...
the scale cover has two main functions:
1. to prevent/reduce dehydration
2. to reduce the grip of predators: the scales are easily detached, so when a predator grabs a specimen, it can mostly escape using the furca, leaving the predator behind with a bunch of scales...
In the next moult the scales are then restored.
… Frans Janssens, 22 October, 2007 - 3:43am login or register to post comments

 
Thanks for the info.
As long as they stay moist I guess they can survive after losing their scales.
… Jim McClarin, 22 October, 2007 - 5:08am login or register to post comments

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