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 First globular springtail of the season
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| LordV |
Posted on 29-10-2006 08:19
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Member Location: Posts: 671 Joined: 06.09.05 |
Just for interest spotted my first globular Springtail of the Winter season Yesterday. I had expected to see giant ones of these during the Summer but they completely disappear- seem to like colder climate. South Coast UK- taken at 4:1 Body length about 1.75 mm Brian V.  |
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| ChrisR |
Posted on 29-10-2006 10:41
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 Administrator Location: Posts: 7699 Joined: 12.07.04 |
Looks like Dicyrtomina ornata (agg). with the 'saundersi' pattern, as identified for me a few years ago by the late, great Steve Hopkin. I was lucky enough to get a draft/test copy of Steve's FSC book "A key to the Springtails of Britain and Ireland"*, so I can at least have a crack at this horrendously difficult group!  I'm not sure if Steve ever published the book and I just noticed they have taken down his Collembola mapping site on the Reading University web-servers  If you do get hold of a copy then be warned - it is very hard to make much progress unless you have a very good microscope (about 100x mag) and you are prepared to make disections and slide mounts of your springtails  However, saying that, I don't have such patience and so I resort to the tried and tested technique of "looking at all the pretty pictures until I find one that looks right"!  * Hopkin, S.P. 2000. A key to the Springtails of Britain and Ireland., AIDGAP Test Version, Field Studies Council, p.1-242. PS: the 'saundersi' pattern is that double comb shape on the end of the abdomen. Some people have split this into 2 distinct species but Steve said that it was probably not a seperate species - just part of ornata (agg). Edited by ChrisR on 29-10-2006 10:49 |
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| LordV |
Posted on 29-10-2006 10:51
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Member Location: Posts: 671 Joined: 06.09.05 |
Thanks Chris- wasn't expecting an ID on this if that's the "saundersi" pattern any idea what this one is ? Taken last season. Brian V.  |
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| ChrisR |
Posted on 29-10-2006 11:10
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Administrator Location: Posts: 7699 Joined: 12.07.04 |
I'n mot sure but my guess would be that it's just a heavily marked D.ornata. It certainly doesn't have the saundersi pattern. I have had a quick flick though the book and I can't see anything that looks better than ornata ... but I wouldn't say that's a confident identification! |
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| LordV |
Posted on 29-10-2006 11:47
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Member Location: Posts: 671 Joined: 06.09.05 |
Thanks again Chris- I called this the Bishop's mitre version Brian V. |
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