If Sting saw this photo, he’d likely sing, “There are little black specks on the snow today.” What are those black specks? Photo by Jenna Gersie.
Answer
Springtails, also known as snow fleas.
Springtails are tiny, harmless arthropods that feed in soil and leaf litter – sometimes making their way into houseplants. When snow begins to thaw in winter, springtails make their way up to the snow’s surface and can be found massing by the thousands. These arthropods can crawl, but by folding the furcula (a forked structure) on their back end, they can push off the ground and jump a short distance.
This week’s winner is Jane Schlossberg, who said, “They are most abundantly seen when the temperature rises a bit, often around the bases of trees and where there are depressions such as footprints. In the latter, they can be so plentiful, that they appear as a gray shadow in the snow; only when you get on your hands and knees for closer inspection, you see the constant hopping about.”
This week’s contest winner was Jane Schlossberg of Saint George, VT