IDnature guides Groups Insecta Insect orders Nearctic Insecta other North American Invasives Links We parsed the following live from the Web into this page. Such content is managed by its original site and not cached on Discover Life. Please send feedback and corrections directly to the source. See original regarding copyrights and terms of use. Insect Collection, University of Guelph Image, California State University, Chico Image, Podura aquatica, Natural History Museum of the City of Geneva Photos, University of Michigan Lucid via Discover Life Kinds Bourletiellidae, Bouletiellidae Brachystomellidae Cyphoderidae Dicyrtomidae Entomobryidae, Damp grain springtails Hypogastruridae Isotomidae, Smooth springtails Mackenziellidae Neanuridae Neelidae Odontellidae Oncopoduridae Onychiuridae, Blind springtails Paronellidae Poduridae, Water springtails Sminthuridae, Globular springtails Tomoceridae Overview "The name "Collembola" is derived from "Colle" = glue and "embolon" = piston or peg. This refers to the belief that the ventral tube has adhesive properties, that is, that it is a "glue-peg". However, the tube's function is primarily for excretion and maintaining water balance" - (N.C. State Entomology Dept.) Identification Among the prominent derived characteristics of this group are: Ventral tube ("collophore") on segment 1 of abdomen (adhesive in some groups, but primarily involved with excretion and water transport) Springing mechanism formed from retinaculum on segment 3, furcula on segment 4 4-segmented antennae (segments sometimes subsegmented, giving the appearance of more than 4 segments) 6 abdominal segments Other characteristics include: Indirect sperm transfer with globular stalked spermatophore Some Neanuridae have polytene chromosomes Adults continue moulting throughout life (up to 50 moults) Reproductive instars alternate with feeding instars Cerci lacking--> Phylogeny Taxonomic Category Scientific Name Common Name Phylum Arthropoda Arthropods Class Insecta Insects Order Collembola Springtail Suborder ARTHROPLEONA elongated-bodies springtails Entomobryidae Isotomidae Onychiuridae Poduridae Suborder SYMPHYPLEONA globular springtails Sminthuridae Photographs Sminthuridae photo copyright: Walter, D.E. 1999 Neosminthurus bakerii photo copyright: Palacios-Vargas, J.G.1997 Geographic distribution Springtails have the widest distribution of any hexapod group, occuring throughout the world, including Antarctica. They are probably the most abundant hexapods on Earth, with up to 250,000,000 individuals per square acre. They are found in soil, leaf litter, logs, dung, cave, shorelines, etc. There are about 6000 known species. Natural history Mating and Reproduction In many species males deposit a spermatophore on the substrate for a the females to find, this is generally held at the top of a thin hair or petiole to keep it off the substrate. In some species the males deposit these wherever they feel like, in others they wait until finding a receptive female and then deposit some nearby. In some species competing males will eat each others spermatophores before setting up there own in the same place. Other species such as Bourletiella hortensis are more conventional and go in for courtship before the male makes a spermatophore available for the female and in Sphaeridia pumilis the male uses his third pair of legs to transfer a drop of sperm to the females genital opening. The eggs are deposited singly by some species and in large masses which may be contributed to by a number of females. A female will lay about 90 to 150 eggs during her life, though this also varies with species. The eggs take about a month to hatch at 8 degrees C but are quicker at warmer temperatures, Tomocerus plumbeus eggs hatch in 3-4 day at about 20 degrees C most will live for about a year. The young go through between 5 and 13 moults before reaching sexual maturity and the time between moults varies with species and temperature from as little as 3.8 days in Callyntrura chibai at 26 C to 110 days for Gulgastrura reticulosa. Links to other sites Checklist of world Collembola -- Frans Janssens Acknowledgements Michael Howell, Ecology Major, University of Georgia, Athens Thanks to Sabina Gupta, Denise Lim, and Dr. John Pickering for technical and web support in devoloping this page. Supported by National Biological Information Infrastructure National Science Foundation go to Discover Life's Facebook group Following modified from Insect Collection, University of Guelph    Top | See original &pull 20q v5.145 20180528: Error 301 Moved Permanently http://www.uoguelph.ca/debu/STEVEweb/html/Collembola.htm Following served from California State University, Chico    Top | See original context Following served from Podura aquatica, Natural History Museum of the City of Geneva    Top | See original context Following modified from Photos, University of Michigan    Top | See original &pull 20q v5.145 20180528: Error 500 Can't connect to www.biosci.missouri.edu:80 (Name or service not known) http://www.biosci.missouri.edu/carrel/photos/Arthropods/Collembola.htm ERROR -- Need to remove recursive link: http://www.discoverlife.org/nh/id/lucid/Insect_orders/html/Collembola.html Lucid via Discover Life Updated: 2024-04-19 04:38:02 gmt Discover Life | Top © Designed by The Polistes Corporation