13.07.19 - Charnwood Lodge

Although Charnwood Lodge is the most heavily recorded site in VC55, I've only made one serious trip for springtails there previously, so it was past time to go back. There was a lot of the routine stuff I'm seeing everywhere at present - Deuterosminthurus pallipes, Pogonognathellus longicornis, Tomocerus minor. Notably, I also found a lot of juvenile Orchesella cincta, and some spanking new adults, a species I've not been seeing for the past few months now making a return:



The highlight of Charnwood Lodge is the acid heath, and grubbing around in the Sphagnum produced a number of Isotoma viridis, which although not unexpected, I think is a new species record for this site:

30.06.19 - Owston

In spite of temperatures over 30C the previous day, springtails were around in the damp bits of Owston. Dicyrtomina ornata reappears in its usual spot but Entomobrya nivalis remains by far the most prevalent species I'm seeing at the present time.

Prepare for lift off!

It is diagnostic of Pogonognathellus longicornis that this species is able to tightly curl both an4 and ant3 due to their flexible annular structure (c.f. Tomocerus, which is only able to curl ant4 slightly). Frans Jansens made the interesting comment on this photo that this individual is considering jumping and has curled ant4, presumably to avoid damage. This behaviour has not occurred to me before and I need to investigate this further next time I find some curly-wurlys to play with.

09.06.19 - Cribb's Meadow

Many springtails taking their summer break, but Deuterosminthurus pallipes and Entomobrya nivalis particularly abundant.