29.03.18: Cademan Wood - Springless Springtails

Cademan Wood is a very varied site with stands of broadleaved trees and conifers as well as outcrops of lichen and algae-encrusted Precambrian rock that deserve further exploration on future visits. On this trip we concentrated on the stand of mature Beech at the north end of the site. Here Pogonognathellus longicornis was the predominant species in the Beech leaf litter with large numbers present.

There are also mature Scots Pine in this part of the wood and I sampled the trunks and under the bark. The predominant species was Entomobrya albocincta, present in good numbers. Lepidocyrtus lignorum and Hypogastrura sp. were also found. Of most interest was a single specimen of Anurophorus laricis, a species I have not recorded in VC55 previously, although it is regarded as a common arboreal species:



This is an interesting springtail - it doesn't have a spring (furcula)!

• "Dark blue" with 8+8 ocelli but these are difficult to see among the dense pigment on the head. Specimens need to be cleared to see the eyes.
• Does not possess a furca and there is no empodial appendage on the foot - important in distinguishing this species from other (rare) members of the genus.

See: http://urweb.roehampton.ac.uk/collembola/taxonomy/(238ANlar).html