Mini-beasts of Antarctica: Springtails
by Andrea Mustain
The largest of the continent’s real land animals, the so-called “elephants of Antarctica,” are the collembola, or, as they are more commonly known, springtails. Unlike the majority of their neighbors, they are visible to the naked eye.
“They look like insects — a little bit like an earwig,” said Ian Hogg, a freshwater ecologist and associate professor at New Zealand’s University of Waikato. “But they’re a lot cuter than earwigs,” Hogg added.
Typically under a millimeter long, the tiny, six-legged arthropods are similar to insects, but more primitive, and likely resemble the ancient ancestors of modern-day insects, Hogg said. They live under rocks near coastal areas, and survive on a diet of fungus and bacteria. Hogg has found them as far south as 86 degrees latitude…
(read more: OurAmazingPlanet)
(image: Barry O’Brien, © University of Waikato)
