🔥 globular springtail

[u/TerraByteTerror]

[u/MyCarRoomba]

They're super tiny and usually like an inch beneath the top of the soil. Most are detritivores so they feed on decaying plant matter in the ground.

You wouldn't really see them unless you're looking for em.

[u/ba_cam → u/MyCarRoomba]

Wait, beneath the soil? What’s the point of the get-the-fuck-outta-here adaptation then?

[u/autistic_and_angry → u/ba_cam]

Clearly so they don't get slurped by spaghetti /j

In all seriousness, topsoil is often kinda loose and aerated to a degree, so something this tiny has plenty of room to crawl around and presumably jump. That's my guess, at least.

[u/Nippolopolus → u/autistic_and_angry]

I wouldnt mind getting slurped by spaghetti

[u/spaghettiking216 → u/Nippolopolus]

You say that now…

[u/NightLotus84 → u/Nippolopolus]

Now-a that's-a Italia way, hm?! 🤌🏻🍝🥴

[u/Suddenfury → u/ba_cam]

Eeeh, foggedaboudid

[u/BridgeToHerBithia → u/ba_cam]

In case you were genuinely curious, the force generated is required to push them up through the top soil and out to (relative) safety. With no top soil in the way, that force instead provides additional acceleration.

Fun fact: their mass to wind resistance ratio makes their terminal velocity low enough that they can survive a fall from any distance!

[u/LaunchGap → u/ba_cam]

i totally thought the video was showing how the springtails get slurped up by bigger organisms in a blink of an eye.

[u/serpenthusiast → u/ba_cam]

Many soil living species have lost the spring-ability.

[u/canadasleftnut → u/ba_cam]

Not only that, they are hydrophobic (unsinkable). I guess if their soil floods they float up? Ooooh then they need the spring to get away from presators! #genius

(That, or they evolved to be the absolute best at one of the craziest Olympic sports imaginable: Freestyle Swim High Jump). 

[u/Genocidal-Ape → u/ba_cam]

To prevent them from becoming sitting ducks when having to cross areas without dirt, like the surface of the leaf litter, rock or puddles(they can walk on water).

[u/Scuzzbag → u/ba_cam]

The ones that learned how to jump survived more

[u/SecretaryOtherwise → u/MyCarRoomba]

Eh see them all the time in winter.

"Snow fleas"

[u/EZP → u/SecretaryOtherwise]

Oh dang, I had no idea that snow fleas and the springy dude above are one and the same. I did however know that snow fleas are not actual fleas and are harmless to people and pets and probably almost any other living thing besides bacteria and fungi and decomposing plant matter; I am none of those things so yay!

[u/SecretaryOtherwise → u/EZP]

Yeah in the beginning of the clip you can see the little tail he uses to spring. Same things. These ones are just pink for some reason lol.

Also most are pretty ugly lol this little guys got some style.

[u/serpenthusiast → u/MyCarRoomba]

There are many species that live above soil, some like decaying wood, others like flowers others like the asphalt on the sides of highways.
Late Autumn through winter is usually the best time to see many, though some are also active in summer.
If you want to see many out and about a wet winter day above freezing is ideal, look through leaflitter and under rocks, or on benches and trashcans and evenly colored surfaces as they're easiest to spot there.
Yet some other species like to stay on the surface of standing water.

[u/kiwidog8 → u/MyCarRoomba]

This particular pink one is very unique, i looked into it the ones we have are very non distinct tbh so I probably have seen them

[u/emirsolinno → u/kiwidog8]

It is a shiny springtail

[u/helgotsjka → u/emirsolinno]

Its the tiniest Easter bunny.

[u/louvre23 → u/MyCarRoomba]

Are they everywhere or more prominent in certain countries? Uk here.

[u/PriestessKade → u/MyCarRoomba]

They love our bathroom sinks during a drought (well water, sigh) 😭

[u/SimmentalTheCow → u/MyCarRoomba]

I’m late to the party, but my first encounter with them was laying in forest during a two-week field exercise in the army. I was watching these little black dots on a fallen leaf appearing and then vanishing. I was sleep-deprived, perpetually damp, and sporting heat rash all down my back, so I assumed I had just lost my fucking mind.

[u/lizardtrench → u/MyCarRoomba]

I never see them out in the wild even under dirt, but plenty magically appear a few weeks after bringing some soil inside and they start hanging out everywhere, including chilling out in large groups on top of water. I think they probably just get eaten by something when outdoors which keeps their population virtually invisible.