| Hairy-Back Girdled Springtail (Orchesella cincta (Linnaeus, 1758)) |
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Scientific name: Orchesella cincta (Linnaeus, 1758) Common name: Hairy-Back Girdled Springtail French name: Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Collembola Order: Entomobryomorpha Family: Entomobryidae Size: 2 to 4 mm. Habitat: Damp and shady habitats, under stones or logs, among the litter. Food: Detritivorous, remains of plants. Reproduction: Males deposit spermatophores (small capsules containing spermatozoa and attached to the substrate by a small peduncle) which are then collected by the females. Geographic area: Europe, North America. |
Springtails of the Entomobryomorpha order show a thin and elongated body with segments of different sizes. Springtails of the Symphypleona order are round-shaped, almost spherical. Those of the Poduromorpha order show an oval body, with rounded segments which are all of similar size. There are five abdominal segments. The fourth segment is the longer one on springtails of the Entomobryidae family. The third one is longer on springtails of the Tomoceridae family. The Hairy-Back Girdled Springtail has a yellowish to brownish body for the female and much darker, almost black for the male. There is heavy dark hair clearly visible. The head is dark in adults and lighter in juveniles. You can see a sort of "white belt" on the abdomen, obtained by contrast between the dark or even black base of segment 3 and the light apex of segment 2. The long antennae are made up of six segments of unequal length. The first segment is very short and black. The second is brown at the base and light coloured at the apex. The third segment is short and black. The terminal segments are uniform brown. (Note: I found different numbering of the segments, the first very short segment is ignored, the third and the fourth are considered as a single segment subdivided into two parts which is called "second segment"). |
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The black third segment of the abdomen which reveals a honey-coloured belt in contact with the second segment and the colours of the antennae segments leave no doubt as to the identification of Orchesella cincta. |
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Same specimen as above but on a less busy background. |
André Bon March 2025