Springtails

Springtails are small, fast insects with a curious adaptation on their abdomen that allows them to spring out of harms way very quickly. They are tiny insects and as such, are difficult to see and study. They are believed to consume small bits of decaying matter and perhaps the detritus of other small insects. They are most likely to be found on the vegetation of the littoral zone of ponds and small lakes. Occasionally they have been observed on the surface of the water, but never submerged. Like many aspects of aquatic and wetland ecology their contribution to the ecosystem remains a mystery.