Found in my pool

[Malakyoma]

Found a group of these guys in my pool. scooped up a bunch of them to feed to my smaller mantids. Only gave a few to one humbertiella, seems to be enjoying them. Can I get an ID on them?

 

[OctoberRainne]

Theres no chemicals in your pool right? that would put me off from using them,even our little one we put up you have to treat with a lot of things,so just be careful of that,I'm not sure what they are though

 

[Malakyoma]

Theres no chemicals in your pool right? that would put me off from using them,even our little one we put up you have to treat with a lot of things,so just be careful of that,I'm not sure what they are though

they were in the snowmelt in the tarp we put up for winter. we drain the pool and reset the chemicals in fall, they're long gone by now

 

[grob]

They look like springtails.

 

[Malakyoma]

They look like springtails.

Maybe closely related but these are too big. I have a culture of wild caught springtails and they're ridiculously small

 

[grob]

Maybe closely related but these are too big. I have a culture of wild caught springtails and they're ridiculously small

There are lots of species of springtails, I think 650 in the US. Looks like from Isotomadae? The forked furca and few-segmented antennae are a giveaway, and they often show up in huge numbers in the spring. I'm looking for a good internet key, with pictures. Here's some pictures:

http://bugguide.net/node/view/61599/bgimage

 

[brancsikia339]

springtails

 

[grob]

I can't find a good collembola key

Compare with these springtails in genus Isotoma:

http://bugguide.net/index.php?q=search&keys=isotoma&search=Search

 

[frogparty]

Absolutely springtails

 

[angelofdeathzz]

Hair lice! inch:

 

[aNisip]

Giant springtail sp

 

[Malakyoma]

Very interesting. Fairly certain all of you saying the same thing is right. so they're a kind of giant springtail. Maybe I can culture them like normal springtails.

 

[frogparty]

I'm sure you could. Just use an organic substrate, not charcoal. It seems much easier to get new species started in culture on coir or sphagnum based cultures