The Golden Arse

A magnificent view of the tiny arse of a golden springtail. I've been spending quite a lot of time looking at springtail's arses recently. That's not quite as Damien Green as it sounds. Identifying Sminthurinus to species level relies on a few key morphological features. The Sminthurinus aureus group has the 'small abdomen' (the animal's "tail end") wholly fused, while other UK Sminthurinus have a visible division between segments 5 and 6. If you'd rather look at the other end, in Sminthurinus aureus the fourth antennal segment (ant4) is not subdivided. 

So that's all right then. 


Sminthurinus aureus. 

Sony ILCE-6000
Canon MP-E 65mm F2.8 G SSM
f8 1/200 ISO 100 

This week's NatureSpot News: 
Eating the equivalent of one neonicotinoid treated seed does major harm to birds. Read more: http://www.naturespot.org.uk/node/127616