Thought I'd show you guys some of the images from my recent project on springtails (Collembola). These little guys are the most abundant and widespread terrestrial arthropods on Earth, yet most people haven't even heard of them. If you want to find some, go turn over any stone in your back garden and look closely!
Note that the SEMs have generally been coloured to illustrate morphology rather than to be aesthetically pleasing! There's a few non-springtail SEMs, TEMs and light microscope shots on my website too if you;re interested.
1. Full body shot:
2. Full body shot of a different species coloured to show head, thorax and abdomen segments:
3. Head, showing the sensory hairs, eyes with eight ocelli (only 6 fully developed), entognathic mouthparts and the proximal sections of the antennae.
4. Mouthparts which are generally used for consumption of fungal hyphae (springtails are one of the most important contributers to soil formation throughout the world). Labium (blue), hypopharynx (red), maxilla (purple), maxillary palps (yellow) and labrum (green).
5. The 'spring' that gives springtails their common name. They use this to escape from danger, with some species able to get airborne in less than 12 milliseconds, and can jump surprisingly far (one 2mm-long species can jump 16cm) - although many soil-dwelling species have reduced or no spring (properly called a furca).
6. The tentaculum is a latch on the underside of the springtail that normally holds the spring in place:
7. The claws - if you look carefully you can see the hexagonal cuticle structure:
8. And finally the cuticle itself, as well as several sensory setae (we're up to 3,300x magnificaiton by this point):
Note that the SEMs have generally been coloured to illustrate morphology rather than to be aesthetically pleasing! There's a few non-springtail SEMs, TEMs and light microscope shots on my website too if you;re interested.
1. Full body shot:
2. Full body shot of a different species coloured to show head, thorax and abdomen segments:
3. Head, showing the sensory hairs, eyes with eight ocelli (only 6 fully developed), entognathic mouthparts and the proximal sections of the antennae.
4. Mouthparts which are generally used for consumption of fungal hyphae (springtails are one of the most important contributers to soil formation throughout the world). Labium (blue), hypopharynx (red), maxilla (purple), maxillary palps (yellow) and labrum (green).
5. The 'spring' that gives springtails their common name. They use this to escape from danger, with some species able to get airborne in less than 12 milliseconds, and can jump surprisingly far (one 2mm-long species can jump 16cm) - although many soil-dwelling species have reduced or no spring (properly called a furca).
6. The tentaculum is a latch on the underside of the springtail that normally holds the spring in place:
7. The claws - if you look carefully you can see the hexagonal cuticle structure:
8. And finally the cuticle itself, as well as several sensory setae (we're up to 3,300x magnificaiton by this point):
