Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
ORDER COLLEMBOLA (SPRINGTAILS)
Suborder ARTHROPLEONA
Body more or less elongate, the thoracic and
abdominal segments usually distinctly separated:
head usually prognathous.
Small, soft-bodied, wingless insects with mou-
thparts endognathous and adapted primarily for
biting; antennae usually 4-segmented; compound
eyes absent; legs 4-segmented; abdomen 6-
segmented, bearing a sucker-like ventral tube
(collophore) on the first segment and usually a
forked saltatory appendage (furcula) on the
fourth (see
Figs 14 and 15),
with its retaining
hook (retinaculum) on the third; no cerci, no
Malpighian tubules and, usually, no tracheae.
Metamorphosis slight; immature stages similar
in appearance to adult, but smaller, with a
constant number of segments throughout their
development.
Superfamily
ENTOMOBRYOIDEA
Pronotum very small, often invisible from above
(Fig. 14); body often hairy and mottled with
brown. Abundant insects in leaf litter, and as-
sisting in its breakdown; no species are of pest
status.
Superfamily
PODUROIDEA
Pronotum well developed, setose and clearly
visible from above; cuticle usually granular or
tuberculate.
1. Family HYPOGASTRURIDAE
(p. 87)
Springtails with biting mouthparts; head ob-
liquely prognathous; pseudocelli absent.
EXAMPLE:
Hypogastrura
spp.
(gunpowder-
mites).
2. Family ONYCHIURIDAE
(p. 87
et seq.)
Soil-inhabiting springtails with biting mouth-
parts; ocelli absent but antennae with complex
sensory organs and pseudocelli present on the
thoracic and abdominal tergites; no saltatory
appendage. Onychiurids feed mainly on the
roots of plants but some species are predators of
nematodes.
EXAMPLE:
Onychiurus
Fig. 14 A springtail - superfamily Entomobryoidea
(xl5).
spp.
(white
blind
springtails).
Suborder SYMPHYPLEONA
Body more or less globular, the thoracic and
first four abdominal segments fused together
(Fig. 15); head hypognathous, with mouthparts
directed ventrally.
Fig.
15 A springtail,
Sminthurus viridis
- superfamily
Symphypleona (x20).
