Dust Speck - Bourletiella arvalis Howard County Living Farm Heritage Museum Park, West Friendship, Howard County, Maryland, USA April 26, 2014 Size: <1mm
I saw these tiny specks here and there during the BioBlitz I participated in recently - on a flower, in the dirt, crawling on my camera's LCD screen. They were so tiny, though, that I didn't even try to get on them in the field, and assumed they were some sort of itty mite. It was much to my delight that I discovered, when i got home, that some had hitched a ride on a flower I'd brought, and I was able to try to photograph them in a controlled environment. I was surprised to find out they were actually tiny springtails, not mites - they are the tiniest I've ever seen.
They are VERY small, and moving, so these photos are the best I could manage. Is it possible to tell what kind they are?
Images of this individual: tag all Contributed by Ashley Bradford on 29 April, 2014 - 5:55pm Last updated 1 May, 2014 - 2:27pm |