In Search of...The Snow Flea

There is a certain Tanglewood supporter and former Board Member, who I'll call "Doc" that wanders in every once in awhile with something interesting to talk about. Today it was Snow Fleas. He said they are out and wondered if we wanted any. I said, "Of course". I remembered him talking about them last year, telling me they were "out there" on top of the snow on sunny days and that I might not notice them unless I really looked hard. And then I said, "What IS a snow flea ?" He said they are a type of springtail, not actually a flea. He left and came back less than 15 minutes later with a coffee jar full of them. Fascinating! I did a little research on these guys and here's what I found out:

They are arthropods in the insect order Collembola. They are ancient, having been around 400+ million years, here even before the dinosaurs. They are only about 1/8 of an inch long and they jump, well actually, they "spring" to get from place to place. They have two "tail" segments that are held under their abdomen with little hooks that, when released, launch the little guy from place to place. Sounds fun, but the problem is, they can't control the direction they go and often land in the same spot they started from. They eat decaying plant material and fungi as well as plant sap. They can attach to the underlayer of leaves or other surfaces with an appendage called a ventral tube. The ventral tube is how Collembola were named, combining the Greek words "coll," or glue, and "embol," meaning wedge. This ventral tube serves triple duty because it is also used for drinking and breathing. Scientists are still trying to figure out if this tube is also their excretory tube....uh, yuck.

There are thousands of species (over 6,000) of Collembola. They are a very successful group and for the most part are harmless because they help to break down dead plants and control bacteria and fungi, although one species from New Zealand and Australia is considered a pest because it likes to eat alfalfa.

Collembola generally prefer moist, cool conditions (even cold, some are in the Antartic), although they can tolerate hot conditions too as some are found in Hawaiian volcanoes.

Another local Collembola is the black-colored species named Willowsia negiomaculata. They are the little guys you might see rushing across the page of a book.

Take a walk outside on a sunny day in the winter and look for the Snow Flea, a gift on a winter day.