Springtail

Springtails
Temporal range: early Devonian
to present
Orchesella cincta
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Subphylum:
Hexapoda
Class:
Entognatha
Subclass:
Collembola

Lubbock, 1870

Springtails (Collembola) are six-legged arthropods. They used to be thought of as proto-insects, but now they are not regarded as insects. They do not have wings.

They live in the soil, and eat fungal hyphae, spores, pollen and other organic material. They need moist soils, and have been known to damage crops.

References

  1. ↑ Gillott, Cedric 2005. Apterygote hexapods. In Entomology. 3rd ed, Berlin: Springer, pp. 113–125. ISBN 978-0-306-44967-3
  2. ↑ Shaw, Michael W. & Haughs, G. M. (1983). "Damage to potato foliage by Sminthurus viridis (L.)" (PDF). Plant Pathology. 32 (4): 465–466. doi:10.1111/j.1365-3059.1983.tb02864.x.

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