Springtails

Code QA999999

See Key to Order & Superfamily of Australian Collembola

Non-insectan hexapods, with over 8,000 species in up to 22 recognized families. Small (usually 2-3 mm, up to 12mm), soft-bodied, with body shape varying from globular to elongate, pale or often characteristically pigmented grey, blue or black; eyes and/or ocelli often poorly developed or absent; antennae 4- to 6-segmented; entognathous mouthparts comprising elongate maxillae and mandibles enclosed by pleural folds of head, maxillary and labial palps absent; legs 4-segmented; abdomen 6-segmented, with a sucker-like ventral tube (the collophore), a retaining hook and furcula (forked jumping organ, usually 3-segmented) on segments 1, 3, 4, respectively, with gonopore on segment 5, anus on segment 6; cerci absent.

Immature instars similar to adults, developing epimorphically (with a constant segment number), maturity attained after 5 moults, moulting continues for life.

Springtails may be found on still water surfaces and in the intertidal zone, but are most abundant in moist litter, where they are major consumers of decaying vegetation, but also they occur in caves, in fungi, commensal with ants and termites. A very few species are genuinely aquatic, but representatives of many families may be taken accidentally, especially from water surfaces.