Springtails Temporal range: early Devonian
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Orchesella cincta | |
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Subclass: | Collembola Lubbock, 1870
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Springtails (Collembola) are six-legged arthropods. They used to be thought of as proto-insects, but now they are not regarded as insects. They do not have wings.[1]
They live in the soil, and eat fungal hyphae, spores, pollen and other organic material. They need moist soils, and have been known to damage crops.[2]