Snow springtail
The snow springtail is a teeny dark blue creature, smaller than a grain of rice. On warm winter days, huge crowds of them appear on top of the snow, like sprinkled pepper. It can jump with a special spring folded under its tummy.
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Fun facts
It has 32 eyes: two little groups of 16 eyes each.
Its body makes a special anti-freeze, so it can stay active even when it is below zero.
Scientists hope its anti-freeze could one day help make better ice cream and keep organs for operations fresh.
In spring and autumn, whole groups march together in one direction across the forest floor, up to 25 metres. Nobody knows why yet.
Most asked questions about Snow springtail
?Is a snow flea a real flea?
No. It is a springtail, a totally different tiny animal, and it does not bite.
?Why are there black dots on the snow?
On warm winter days, snow springtails crawl up onto the snow in big groups, which looks like sprinkled pepper.
?How big is a snow springtail?
It is only about 1.6 millimetres long.
Myth buster
Myth: The snow flea is a kind of flea.
Truth: No. It is a springtail, a totally different little animal, and it does not bite. It is not related to real fleas at all.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Hypogastrura nivicola
- Group
- Other insects
- Family
- Hypogastruridae
- Classification
- Collembola > Poduromorpha > Hypogastruridae
- Lives on
- North America
- Also known as
- Snow flea
Where the facts come from
- Hypogastrura nivicola (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by it:User:A_proietti. CC0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.
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