Three Legged Cross, Dorset
COLLEMBOLA (Springtails) > SYMPHYPLEONA >
Dicyrtomidae > Dicyrtominae > Dicyrtomina ornata
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Hidden Worlds
COLLEMBOLA were previously classified with insects, but are now treated as a class in their own right, sitting alongside DIPLURA (the Two-pronged Bristletails) and PROTURA (Proturans or Coneheads). They are the wingless ARTHROPODS, which together with INSECTA are the four classes within the superclass HEXAPODA.
Springtails, the most abundant arthropods on earth, are very small wingless creatures, just a few millimetres long that live mainly in soil and leaf litter. They are so named due to their forked springing organ, or furca, which enables them to jump considerable distances of up to several centimetres when disturbed. They have reduced eyes, variable length antennae, simple bodies and short legs. They have two distinct forms; elongate in which the six abdomen segments are clearly visible, and globular bodies where the segmentation is far from apparent. There are around 250 species in Britain, the majority of which are so small that I wouldn’t even attempt to photograph them. However, there are a few in the 2-5mm range that are of interest and over the past few weeks I have managed to get some reasonable photos of some of them.
This is Dicyrtomina ornata, which is recorded as being common although I have only found two so far. It’s one of the globular-bodied species with a length of around 3mm. It is extremely similar to another species, Dicyrtomina saundersi apart from the shape of the dark pigmentation at the posterior end of the abdomen. In this species it is more of a solid patch, whereas in Dicyrtomina saundersi it is distinctly multi-barred.
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