Water springtail
The water springtail is a tiny bluish grey bug that spends its whole life on top of still water. It is so light that it can stand on the water without sinking. It has a flat spring under its tail and can jump right off the water.
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Fun facts
It jumps with a flat spring under its body, and it can jump without breaking through the water skin.
Its eggs are laid on the water and sink straight to the bottom. The baby grows inside the egg under water.
When the baby hatches, it floats up to the top because its skin does not get wet.
It likes light and uses shiny, blue light bouncing off water to find a good pond to live on.
Its family is very small. Scientists know only four kinds in it.
Most asked questions about Water springtail
?How big is a water springtail?
Tiny. It grows only up to 1.5 millimetres long.
?Where do water springtails live?
On the surface of ponds, puddles and other still water, all their lives.
?Is a water springtail an insect?
It has six legs like an insect, but springtails are a special group of little hexapods of their own.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Podura aquatica
- Group
- Other insects
- Family
- Poduridae
- Classification
- Collembola > Poduromorpha > Poduridae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia, North America
Where the facts come from
- Podura aquatica (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 Christian Fischer. CC BY-SA 3.0, 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 [email protected] and we will fix it.
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