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Index of Subjects When I was teaching Terrestrial Diversity in the Biology Department at Dal., I always had a sample of the wingless insects on display in the lab for the students. Andrew identified them correctly as Collembola but I will add here that they are from one of 5 groups (orders) of "wingless insects" (subclass Apterygota) that we studied. The Collembola are the springtails or snowfleas that one sees on pond surfaces or streams at this time of the year. I used to see them often at the Hd. of St. Margaret's Bay up in the woods either on the trail or at the edge of the stream running down the hill. They come in various colours - black, rust, bright yellow and blue! although I have not seen the latter two colours. If you find a largish cluster of them on the snow put your ear to them and you'll hear little click clicks as they jump. Anne Mills ----- Original Message ----- From: "Joan Czapalay" <joancz@ns.sympatico.ca> To: <naturens@chebucto.ns.ca> Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2010 6:45 PM Subject: Re: [NatureNS] snow fleas (probably Boreus, Mecoptera) > We used to see them a lot around the shady side of the school in Port La > Tour, Shel. Co.. I had someone from DRN identify them as "snow fleas" for > our outdoor nature class, but don't remember the scientific name. Seems we > always saw them on an unusually mild day in Feb/early March. Cheers, Joan > > Stephen Shaw wrote: >> Has anyone into winter hiking come across these, snow fleas (Mecoptera = >> scorpionflies)? >> They are expected to be black or brown, about 3 mm long, flightless >> (vestigial >> wings), come out on to the snow surface in the day in winter, and can >> jump. They have been photo'd from early December through mid February on >> Bugguide.net, in places like New Hampshire and Ontario. The species >> featured >> on Bugguide are mostly Boreus brumalis and Boreus nivoriundus. >> >> A colleague from Cambridge, Malcolm Burrows, who visited here a couple of >> years >> ago to work on jumping mecahnisms in true bugs, is coming back again >> later this >> year. He is the expert on the mechanics of insect jumps and has just >> asked me >> if any species of Boreus is found here. Has anyone seen any jumping >> critter >> like this somewhere in N.S., and if so at what sort of date? >> Thanks, >> Steve >> >> >> >> >> >
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