A springtail made famous on a postage stamp. Springtails are tiny wingless insects found in leaf litter, compost heaps, on the surface of mud puddles, or down in the soil. They are seldom noticed until they “spring” into the air, or show up as dark specks on the snow surface when they are mistakenly called “snowfleas.”

by Sarah Walker, from the April 2006 Newsletter

Early spring is the time to spot springtails. Plunge a fork into the compost heap or disturb the mulch, and dozens – or hundreds, or thousands – of these tiny, 1/8th-inch long wingless insects might suddenly spring into the air where we saw nothing a second ago.

During the first warm days of spring, springtails congregate in huge groups to eat, find mates, and lay eggs. But they aren’t named for the season; they’re named for the curious habit of springing away when disturbed by spiders, ants, beetles, centipedes or humans.

A tail-like structure called a furca folds against their underbodies, held in place by a catch called a tenaculum. When the catch relaxes, the furca releases and snaps downward against the ground, catapulting the springtail into the air 50-100 times their body length. If we could do this we would be able to jump more than 300 feet!

Unfortunately, springtails’ Olympic feat gets them confused with a much different insect: “their acrobatics associates them with nature’s most annoying gymnasts, common dog fleas,” says Kenneth Christainsen, who studies springtails at Grinnell College in Iowa. Springtails are not fleas!

Springtails live anyplace damp – in the soil, in leaf mold, under bark, in rotten logs, in mulch. Some species come out onto the snow surface; others float on mud puddles. Our planet is equipped with 6,000 species of them, from seacoasts to mountaintops and on every continent. They can be red, yellow, orange, metallic green, lavender, indigo, white, or gray.

Springtails scavenge for decayed organic matter in leaf litter. They are important recyclers because they reduce dead plant material to soil. Amazingly, they are able to break down DDT in soil with no ill effects to themselves.

The oldest fossil insect is a springtail preserved in chert, in Scotland. Springtails evolved 400 million years ago during the Devonian period. Unlike most arthropods (the phylum that includes insects, spiders, crustaceans) they evolved in a cool climate and can withstand extreme cold.

Most insects have wings, but springtails do not. Sue Hubbell, in her book about insects called Broadsides from the Other Orders, defends “the wingless, considered by entomologists to be a primitive sort of insect. But primitive doesn’t mean simple, clumsy, tentative, experimental, or that [they] are the ancestors of butterflies. What it does mean is that, a very long time ago, there were animals rather like today’s [springtails], which evolved into an effective, practical form that enabled them to get on in the world. They developed this form back in the Beginning of Insects, as it were, and it was so suited to the changes and challenges the world has offered in the millions of years that followed that they had no need to make any more major alterations to themselves in order to continue to get along well. They are among the real conservatives of life; they are also among its successes.”

Springtails don’t attract attention like pretty butterflies that migrate extraordinary distances, or worms that make silk, or ants that operate as efficient colonies. They haven’t been extensively studied because they don’t harm agricultural crops, eat our sweaters, damage our houses, spread diseases, bite our pets (or us), stink or make irritating repetitive noises.

They just keep recycling, building our soils. In Alaska, where the tiniest sign of spring is celebrated, biology professor Stephen MacLean says, “maybe we should celebrate another sign of spring: while waiting for the geese to return, we can also tilt our heads downward to salute the leap of the springtail.”

Copyright: Copyright on articles, recipes and images are jointly held by the Moscow Food Co-op and the respective contributors, except were otherwise noted.

Return to Resource Archive

For additions or corrections to this page, please contact the Webmaster.