Volume 39, Number 1,
October 1992:
Springtails

Text-only version

ABOUT THIS ISSUE
- about KSN
- about the author

IN THIS ISSUE
- part 1
- part 2
- part 3
- part 4
- part 5
- part 6
- part 7
- part 8
- part 9
- part 10

SLIDESHOW
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Springtails
by Kenneth Christiansen

Sand dunes are another habitat where food would appear to be scarce for springtails. In addition their frequent extremely dry nature would make dunes appear to be very hostile environments for Collembola. Nevertheless recent studies have shown that if one moistens soil from sand dunes lightly for a number of days, large numbers of Collembola often emerge. This points out that the ability to survive complete drying by anabiosis is probably much more widespread than we had originally suspected. But the mystery of what they eat remains.

Another habitat which would appear to be hostile to Collembola is the inundated forest of the Amazon. This habitat where the forests are inundated for up to five months each year is just beginning to be studied. Not surprisingly there are many species of springtails which thrive in the trees; but very surprisingly it has been recently discovered that many Collembola, along with mites, are alive and active under the water on the forest floor when it is covered by water. It will be very interesting to discover what kinds of adaptations allow them to do this.

In contrast to these habitats, ant and termite nests are environments where we would expect Collembola to thrive. With high humidities and a variety of potential foods, the main problem is to escape the attention of the ants. The fact that relatively few groups of springtails are able to survive here indicates that this may be a serious problem. One family - Cyphoderidae - (see Figure 20) appears to ideally suited for this. Most species of the family are primarily or exclusively inhabitants of ant or termite nests. We know little of how they behave in the nest to escape being killed by their hosts but they are accepted. If you were to examine one of the columns of army ants which sweep across the floors of South American rain forests, you would find Collembola marching along with the ants. One of the most remarkable habits of termite-loving (or termitophilous) Collembola is that some members of the genus Colabatinus commonly sit on the head of soldier termites (Figure 21). Soldiers are unable to feed themselves and when the workers feed them, our Collembola steal a bit of the food. If the soldier is disturbed, the movement of the jaws is detected by the springtail's antennae and it uses the furcula to quickly jump off.