Springtail — printable fact sheet

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Springtail

Collembola

Springtails (Collembola) are among the most abundant animals on Earth, with populations that can exceed 100,000 individuals per square metre of temperate soil, yet they are not insects. They belong to the Entognatha, a group whose mouthparts are held inside a pouch in the head r…

Classification

Invertebrate

Family

Varies (e.g., Entomobryidae, Isotomidae, Sminthuridae)

Habitat

Moist soil and leaf litter

Diet

Detritivore

Conservation status

Least Concern

Lifespan

1-2 years

Weight

0.1–2 mg

Scientific name

Collembola

Did you know?

Springtails are so numerous that a single square meter of soil can contain tens of thousands of individuals.
Springtails are not insects, and their lineage split from insects hundreds of millions of years ago. A springtail's jump is powered by a latch and a spring, not by muscle, and it cannot steer where it lands. Their water-repellent skin is textured at the nanometre scale and stays dry even in a flooded soil pore, a design being copied for stain-resistant materials. A single square metre of woodland soil can hold more springtails than there are people in a small town.

What I learned

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