Taking another look, just now, at the bamboo cane with the dab of sugar solution, put there to feed the Spruce Carpet this morning, I found other hungry mouth parts taking advantage of it. There were a few woodlice, a couple of Strawberry Snails and four or five of these tiny springtails, which I think are Dicyrtomina ornata. My macro lens is struggling at this scale, but the beauty of these tiny things is evident.
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| Springtail. Dicyrtomina ornata? |
Reading up on Dicyrtomina, I now feel pretty sure that this is in fact D. saundersii, based on the pattern of the dark pigment area, at the posterior end of the abdomen. It is this characteristic pattern in saundersii and more solid in ornata.
ReplyDeleteNice photo Mark - those round springtails really are tiny.
ReplyDeleteThey certainly are, George. I'll have to get a set of extension tubes to aid my macro lens with these tiny subjects.
ReplyDeleteIt is always a source of wonder to me that many organisms at this tiny scale are so beautiful: almost jewel-like.