Small insect for ID please

SteveF48 · #1 (**permalink**) 25-01-2010, 10:08 AM

This is a very small insect photographed on a clover leaf last July (2009).

I would estimate its length at 2-3mm.
Can anyone identify it please?
Thanks in advance,
Steve

Jason Green · #2 (**permalink**) 25-01-2010, 12:56 PM

Morning Steve,

This is a Globular Springtail, and I believe Sminthurus viridis which is often green and mottled. This individual appears smaller and paler than the ones I've seen, so maybe a juvenile. The only one I've found so far was on Clover too.

Springtails are so-called because they have a springing tail-mechanism below the abdomen, which is used to throw the insect clear of predators. Those that permanently live in or below the soil lack this mechanism, and are a good species in the way that they help condition the soil. They are apparently one of the most numerous species on Earth in the way that they can exist in numbers of up to 40,000 per square meter of soil!

Take care,

Jason