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Recently my daughter built a terrarium. As the final step, the instructor added some bugs to help maintain the enclosed ecosystem.
A few different types of bugs can be added to terrariums, but the ones my daughter got were springtails. They were so tiny, I didn't get a good look at them. The instructor used a dropper to catch a bunch in some liquid, and squirted them into the terrarium.
I saw movement, as the tiny bugs immediately started working their way into the soil. As he was depositing the springtails, the instructor chatted about how they have been around for hundreds of millions of years, that they live on every continent, and are important decomposers.
Unsurprisingly, the synopsis, along with having them live in my home (albeit in a sealed jar), made me curious to learn more.
Through reading information mostly on university extension service websites, I learned that springtails are invertebrates which evolved about 400 million years ago. Their evolution was alongside lichens and mosses.
Springtails, or Collembola, are not insects, due to having internal mouthparts. Depending on the species, they may have very simply mouthparts for piercing and sucking fluids (from fungi, etc.), or mouthparts which are quite complex.
They also differ from insects because they don't go through a real metamorphosis, they have body segments which are not well defined, and they don't have wings.
Springtails have three sets of legs, and a segmented body. They get their name from a forked organ on their underside called a furcula, which acts as a spring, propelling them through the air a distance of up to 100 times the length of their bodies.
Most springtails are very small (about one sixteenth of an inch) and dull colored, although some are larger (up to an eighth of an inch) and brightly colored.
Springtails like moist areas (hence being deposited into terrariums), and populations can be quite dense under leaf litter and other areas. In tropical areas, some springtails live in the canopies of trees, while others live deep in caves.
Some springtails, known as snow fleas, come out in the spring when the ground is warming and hop around on top of snow cover, looking for fresh pollen to eat.
Basically, springtails are everywhere. They are important for breaking down matter and maintaining healthy levels of bacteria and fungus, playing a critical role in almost every ecosystem on earth.
The larger and more colorful species are found in rotting wood in New Zealand and Australia, but have become critically threatened due to warmer and dryer climates.
Sometimes springtails can maintain indoor populations, especially in basements and bathrooms, or other areas which support mold growth.
During droughts or periods of excess water, springtails will move to find locations which are just right.
Most fossils of springtails are found in amber, and the earliest mention of these invertebrates is in Aristotles’ writings. Improvements of the microscope greatly increased knowledge about springtails.
When I was looking for information about springtails, the sites that came up with my first search terms were about getting rid of them from homes and gardens.
While perhaps annoying, springtails don't bite people, nor do they carry disease or damage houses or furnishings. However, if they reach nuisance levels, reducing moisture inside along with letting houseplants fully dry out before watering again can help.
Outdoors, reducing mulch in gardens can make conditions less favorable for springtails.
I enjoyed learning about these tiny creatures which are so important to our ecosystem and look forward to seeing evidence of their activity in the terrarium.