EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

Globular Springtail (Ptenothrix maculosa), Family Dicyrtomidae, Order Collembola
Cascades Mountains, southern Washington, USA

Explanation:  Found below down wood and in the soil throughout western North America is this tiny, inconspicuous globular springtail.  

Springtails are likely more numerous than any other arthropod in the soil, but they are not commonly seen because they are hidden and very tiny.  Most springtails feed on algae, lichens, fungi, and decaying plant and animal matter.  They play key roles as decomposers and recyclers.

There are two suborders of spingtails, the elongate-bodied Arthropleona, and the globular-bodied Symphypleona such as the species featured this week.  

Springtails are so named because of their amazing high jumps, aided by a springing mechanism in the "tail."  The tail is actually a pair of long abdominal appendages that folds under the body and held there by another pair of abdominal appendages, which, when relaxed, releases the longer pair which propels the organism into the air.  

The abdominal appendages forming the
jumping mechanisms  (photo 200x magnification).

Springtails are minute and primitive, and usually wingless.  Their mouths are comprised of a simple chewing anatomy.  There is a group of simple eyes on each side of the head. 

The eyes of springtails are simple, perhaps reflecting 
their life in the dark -- under bark, and in the soil 
(photo 200x magnification).