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Project Noah Nature School
subclass Collembola
Here is a group of tiny springtails (+/- 2 mm) floating on the surface of a puddle. They are arthropods but not insects. Springtails are amazing in a lot of ways, including their sheer numbers. But one of the coolest things about them is their skin, which repels water and other liquids. That’s important because, unlike insects, they breathe through their skin. So if it gets wet or gunky, they’ll suffocate. Click through to the references for an excellent article about how their skin works.
Spotted on Sep 18, 2011
Submitted on Oct 6, 2011
9 Comments
More good work like this please!!
Thanks MickGrant. :)
Great macros and excellent information!
Thanks Cindy, Misako, and Harsha. Some springtails are very resistant to cold, so I'm hoping to see more in the fall and winter.
WOW!
fascinating!
Wow
There were a lot of them... we probably saw a couple thousand during the afternoon. But last spring in Arizona I found the motherlode of springtails - there were so many that the edges of a small pond were black. The best photo I got that day is here: http://textless.tumblr.com/post/40761095... (I still thought they were insects :)
That's a lot of springtails!