A "Giant" Springtail - Observation of the Week, 10/24/23

Our Observation of the Week is this Holacanthella paucispinosa springtail, seen in New Zealand (Aotearoa) by @frankashwood!

“I became interested in nature as a young child – some of my earliest memories are turning over rocks in the garden and my mum explaining to me what all the different invertebrates were,” recalls Frank Ashwood. 

So, it’s a childhood dream come true that I now work as a professional soil ecologist and hobbyist macrophotographer, spending my days researching and photographing all those same animals that once fascinated me as a child. Fortunately for me, I recently moved to New Zealand, where there’s some of the most spectacular soil invertebrates in the world – particularly the giant springtails!

A few weeks ago, Frank participated in an event organized by the University of Canterbury, held at the Cass Mountain Research Area.

I knew H. paucispinosa was in the general area thanks to a colleague previously finding one nearby (shoutout to @fuligogirl on iNaturalist), so I was on high alert for it while turning over deadwood for invertebrates. However, a whole morning passed without finding one, and just as I was about to give up hope, I turned over the right log and found a pair of them huddled together! This is one of the five species of Holacanthella endemic to New Zealand, and they’re not only incredible creatures to look at, but are also important decomposers of decaying wood in native beech forests.

While they do have six legs, springtails are not considered insects. They instead belong to a separate subclass of hexapods, and lack the external mouthparts which insects have. Most springtails have a furcula, an abdominal appendage which can be released with great force, propelling the animal into the air when it needs to escape a predator. Most springtails are shorter than 6mm in length, but members of Holacanthella can be 17mm long - truly enormous (relatively).

"I only started using iNaturalist a couple of months ago, when I moved to New Zealand from the UK," says Frank (above). 

It’s very popular with the naturalist community here, so I decided to give it a try. I’ve found the app’s community-based approach to identification has helped me learn native species ID much faster than if I’d had to start from scratch. It’s also given me greater confidence in recording organisms outside of my usual areas of expertise, as I don’t have to know the exact species to still make a useful biological observation.

(Photo of Frank by Ian Dickie)

- David Attenborough and the BBC crew have some sweet footage of springtails hopping, among other activities.

- springtails come in all shapes and sizes, take a look at the most-faved observations of them on iNat!

Posted on October 24, 2023 09:13 PM by tiwane