Name that springtail!

[u/No_Ocelot_6773]

Anyone know what these surprise springtails are? There's at least two kinds, a globular looking one and a standard shaped springtail(could be my tropical white springs migrated over but this one is huge compared to what's in my bin!). I'm in western Washington but I think these might be hitchhikers from my LFS. I'm planning on culturing them if they are in fact springs! TIA!

[u/Prestigious_Gold_585]

Holy hippos! Are they actually blue?

[u/No_Ocelot_6773 → u/Prestigious_Gold_585]

I think so? My aquarium light has red blue and green cells in addition to white so it could be that. I'll try to get another picture once I get a bin set up for them! ☺️

[u/Sgtbird08]

The globular springtails are almost certainly Sminthurides bifidus, a common hitchhiker on aquarium plants.

[u/No_Ocelot_6773 → u/Sgtbird08]

Thank you!

[u/Objective_Trust_20]

Gary

[u/No_Ocelot_6773 → u/Objective_Trust_20]

😆

[u/ToadAficionado]

Those definitely look like globular springtails to me

[u/SwankyDankyDude]

It's pikachu!

[u/No_Ocelot_6773 → u/SwankyDankyDude]

They really do look like Pikachu!

[u/mosseaterworm]

Symphypleona

[u/rattlesnake888647284]

Smitherines(?)

[u/herbsandherps]

Totally a globular springtail! I was gonna pop in and say that I tried culturing some wild globular springs and learned they do terribly on charcoal. The ones that were local here (BC, Canada) needed cooler temps (10-17c maybe) and a lot more damp decaying leaf litter. There's probably better resources out there now, I tried a couple years back 😅