Trying to find what the fashionable globular springtails are wearing this year
Think the colour intensity/darkness varies with instar level and whether it has recently moulted.
Pretty certain #2 is a male - these are slightly rarer than the females, the sex ratios can vary from 10:1 to 10000:1 female:male depending on the species.
Bruce - these springtails prefer it cool and damp so I tend to only see them in large numbers at this time of year. These were all over the place - on compost bin lids, water barrel lids, sun chairs etc- but it has been pretty damp here
TheBat wrote:
Hi Brian,
These little fellas have got me intruiged?
Are those actually eyes or 'false-eye' structures?
Kinda look like grazing cows
Bruce
The black things are eye patches which have upto 8 separated simple eyes on them depending on species. Yes they always look like alien 6 legged cows to me, especially as you can find them in small herds. They do graze the biofilm on surfaces and leave lots of springtail- pats behind too
