Pic of a male globular springtail and a crop equivalent to 11.4:1. The male genital papillae is visible in this fairly low level shot in front of the "bum". First time I've ID'd a male springtail
Thanks for the comments michael
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Tell the wife sex in these is a non contact sport. The male puts down little spermatophores on the substrate (little stalked lolipop shaped things) and the female picks them up by walking over them
Fraid I was encouraged to try and get a shot of this by the resident Flickr springtail expert (Frans Janssens). The experts seem fascinated by getting good detail in live specimens rather than the dead specimens they normally work with.
Thanks Gary and Remy for the kind comments. I only originally did the crop for Frans but it turns out he would like another upside down shot of a male. Did one this morning but it turned out to be a female I think
Will post it later
Igor Shuryak wrote:
Great detail. The other end also looks interesting - I never payed attention to the eyes before.
Thanks Igor
These have spaced simple eyes - about 6 I think per plate.
Brian V.
For your next (summer) challenge: if you can go up a notch on the magification, the male "bits" on the dorsal side of the last abdominal segment in male Bourletiella species e.g. B. hortensis (but not in Deuterosminthurus or Heterosminthurus) are highly differentiated but on a modest scale.
It has probably been mentioned elsewhere that Collembola uniquely continue to moult and grow after reaching sexual maturity.
For your next (summer) challenge: if you can go up a notch on the magification, the male "bits" on the dorsal side of the last abdominal segment in male Bourletiella species e.g. B. hortensis (but not in Deuterosminthurus or Heterosminthurus) are highly differentiated but on a modest scale.
It has probably been mentioned elsewhere that Collembola uniquely continue to moult and grow after reaching sexual maturity.
Thanks for the comments
Don't think I've spotted any of that species in the garden yet.
Brian V.
