Springtails and rust

21 Friday Apr 2023

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British springtails, Dog's mercury, Melampsora populnea, Merculiaris perennis, rust fungus, rust on Dog's mercury, springtail, springtail feeding on rust fungus

We’ve seen springtails and slime a couple of times previously on this blog; now here’s the next instalment in the springtails series: springtails and rust fungi. I spotted this rust, Melampsora populnea, on Dog’s mercury (Merculiaris perennis) during yesterday’s walk. From the top of the leaf, all you see is a small area of puckering and some pale spots (near the hole on the leaf in the lower part of the first photograph below). But, on the underside of the leaf, it’s a different story, with the orange blobs typical of a rust fungus.

230421 dogs mercury and rust

At the time, I didn’t notice the tiny creatures munching on the fungus, neither the minuscule orange ones nor the relatively large pale orange ones. I presume the smaller ones are the offspring of the larger, which are definitely springtails, though I don’t know which species of Collembola these are, and my photos aren’t precise enough to identify them more precisely.

230421 rust and springtails

Life on a seepage

02 Thursday Mar 2023

Posted by sconzani in insects, molluscs

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British snails, British sprngtails, Clausilia bidentata, life on a seepage, Monobella grassei, snail, springtail, stone seepage, Two-toothed door snail

On one side of a local railway station there is a huge stone embankment, perhaps 50 feet tall, that was probably constructed in the 1880s (the platforms were opened in 1888). I walked along the path next to this embankment a couple of days ago and couldn’t help but notice several areas where moisture was seeping from between the stone blocks. When I looked more closely at these seepages, I was amazed by how much life they were supporting – an intriguing habitat in miniature.

230302 seepage

As well as a variety of mosses and lichens, I found four miniscule springtails, which I think are Monobella grassei, a new species for me, though my identification hasn’t yet been validated.

230302 Monobella grassei

There was also a stunning little snail, covered in grooves that are actually growth lines. Again, its identity has yet to be confirmed, but I think this is probably a Two-toothed door snail (Clausilia bidentata). The Naturespot website reports that it can often be found hiding in cracks in rocks and that it ’emerges in damp weather and at night and climbs high up on bare surfaces to graze on algae and lichens’, which is exactly what this one was doing.

230302 clausiliidae species

Springtail and slime

17 Friday Feb 2023

Posted by sconzani in fungi, insects, leaves

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British springtails, Dicyrtomina ornata, insects on Sycamore, leaf litter, slime, slime mould, slime on Sycamore leaf, springtail, Sycamore leaves

My most recent leaf-diving session in my favourite slimy Sycamore leaf spot turned up these two tiny treasures. This first is a miniscule springtail with a very hairy bottom which I think is Dicyrtomina ornata. There is another very similar springtail, Dicyrtomina saundersi, but that has distinct orange patches on its antennae and I’m not seeing that in my photos of this little critter.

230217 springtail

The second treasure was a lovely bit of slime, which may or may not be Metatrichia floriformis. Slime moulds can be tricky to identify accurately and I’m well out of practice.

230217 slime

On the fence

14 Wednesday Dec 2022

Posted by sconzani in insects

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harlequin ladybird, ladybirds, springtail, British springtails, Syrphus species, Syrphus sp larvae, hoverfly larvae

Last week, before our current cold snap (though we’ve had no snow, it was -8C in the bitter easterly wind today), I was amazed at how many insects I found on and around a black metal fence that borders a local park.

221214 fence

I was initially checking for hoverfly larvae, as I was alerted a couple of years back to the fact that they can often be found on fences and other objects under trees like Sycamore – I think they fall when the leaves fall, then stay on the fence rails gobbling up any aphids that also fall. The four hoverfly larvae I found (shown below the lovely blue-bodied fly) are all from the Syrphus genus (but it’s not possible to identify them to species level), but I was surprised to also find an abundance of Springtails and more than 20 ladybirds, almost all Harlequin. I don’t know why the fence attracted them all – it felt cold to the touch but perhaps the black paint meant the surface was warm when the sun did actually shine.

221214 insects on the fence

A spring in its tail?

17 Thursday Feb 2022

Posted by sconzani in insects

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British insects, British springtails, insects under logs, Neanura muscorum, springtail

I’ve been log-diving again, checking under small rotting branches and logs to see what might be seen. Woodlice and slugs, small spiders and snails there were a’plenty but the only creature I found with even a modicum of colour was this little springtail. I think this is Neanura muscorum, an insect which couldn’t be less true to its name if it tried – no tail to be seen and certainly not very springy.

220217 Neanura muscorum

Alfred’s cakes

26 Friday Mar 2021

Posted by sconzani in fungi, insects

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British fungi, British insects, Daldinia concentrica, King Alfred's Cakes, springtail, woodlouse

King Alfred’s been back in the kitchen but a Great British Bake Off winner he is not. His cakes, otherwise known as Daldinia concentrica, even when you can peek inside their blackened exteriors, never look palatable. With these I found in the woods this week though, Alfred has certainly produced some creative shapes.

And, even if inedible, they are sturdy enough to provide a home to tiny creatures, in this case a woodlouse and a springtail.

Fencepost lichen

05 Tuesday Jan 2021

Posted by sconzani in insects, lichen

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British lichens, fencepost lichen, lichen, lichen on fence post, lichen on wood, springtail

Just one old fencepost, wood species unknown, but look at the number of lichen species it’s home to, as well as the lichen-loving Springtails. It’s a multifarious microcosm of the wider environment, a miniature landscape of vibrant colour and diverse shapes. Old fenceposts are usually worth a closer look.

321/366 Springtails and slime

16 Monday Nov 2020

Posted by sconzani in fungi, insects

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Comatricha nigra, Comatricha slime mould, Dicyrtomina saundersi, fungi on rotting wood, Neanura muscorum, slime, slime mould, springtail, Trichia persimilis, Trichia slime mould

Springtails and slime, a colourful combination, currently to be found on and under many old branches and rotting logs, in a saturated woodland near you, right now!

201116 springtails and slime (1)

The orange slime is probably one of the Trichia species, possibly Trichia persimilis, and the white blobs on black sticks are one of the Comatricha species, perhaps Comatricha nigra.

201116 springtails and slime (2)

And the springtails? The brownish one with the hairy bottom is likely to be Dicyrtomina saundersi, and the blue-grey-coloured ones may be Neanura muscorum, but my photos are not good enough to make positive identifications.

201116 springtails and slime (3)

16/366 Beneath

16 Thursday Jan 2020

Posted by sconzani in insects, molluscs, nature, winter

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Hairy snail, slime mould, slugs, springtail, under a log

When wet weather forces a change of plan, sometimes the only thing for it is to head to the woods and turn over some logs, because there’s never nothing to see under a log!

Two slugs, possibly even the same species despite their obvious colour differences.

Eggs? Those on the left might well be slug or snail eggs but the ones on the right were much smaller and seemed caught up in a web or perhaps just strands of slime. I didn’t poke them – didn’t want to disturb them – so I’m not sure of their texture.

200116 5 slime

A slime mould, though not as much slime as I was hoping for. Possibly one of the Trichia species, perhaps Trichia persimilis.

200116 8 springtail

A springtail, probably one of the Entomobrya species but I really needed a photo of its upper side to be able to confirm its identification.

200116 7 hairy snails

Hairy snails (Trochulus hispidus), I believe, as the only other hairy snail has a more conical shell. It always seems odd to me for a snail to have hairs … but odd is good, interesting, never boring!

Sitting on the fence

06 Sunday Jan 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, nature

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British hexapods, British springtails, Collembola, Dicyrtoma fusca, Dicyrtomina saundersi, Entomobrya multifasciata, Hexapod, Pogonognathellus flavescens, springtail

No, it wasn’t me sitting on the lichen on the fence posts. If you have keen eyes, you may have been able to spot a tiny creature in that last image I posted. It was a Springtail – not an insect, but a hexapod and, with around 250 species found in Britain, Springtails form the largest group of hexapods, the Collembola.

190106 unidentified springtails (1)

These creatures are tiny – no more than 6mm long, but extremely abundant. They mostly eat rotting leaves and bacteria so, as well as being found amongst the lichen on fence posts, they can also be discovered, in their millions, in the soil, in compost heaps, in fact anywhere there’s rotting vegetation. According to the Naturespot website, it’s estimated there can be as many as 100,000 Springtails in each cubic metre of top soil. (Some species also eat live plants and so are considered pests by farmers and gardeners.)

Pogonognathellus flavescens

Springtails are so named because they have a tail-like appendage (the furcula) under their abdomen. This ‘tail’ is held in place with a latch, which, when they think they’re in danger, they can simply release to catapult themselves into the air and escape.

Dicyrtoma fusca

The Collembola are of two types, the round-ish ones (globular) and long-ish ones (linear), and, as you can see from my photos here, I’ve managed to find some examples of both types.