The trophic preferences of soil invertebrates such as Collembola are often determined by the analysis of gut contents, or through visual observations of the location of individuals. As an alternative approach, two species of Collembola, Folsomia candida and Proisotoma minuta, were offered a choice of the soil fungus Cladosporium cladosporioides or the bacterial feeding nematode Panagrellus redi...

This study combined nearly complete 28S and 18S rRNA gene sequences (>4100 nt long) to investigate the phylogenetic relationships of basal hexapods (Protura, Collembola, and Diplura). It sequenced more 28S genes, to expand on a previous study from this lab that used 18S plus only a tiny part of the 28S gene. Sixteen species of basal hexapods, five insects, six crustaceans, two myriapods, and tw...

A new species of Deutonura, D. zana sp. nov., is described from north-eastern Algeria. It is morphologically similar in most characters to D. deficiens meridionalis and to D. luberonensis, both members of the D. phlegraea group, differing from the former by the absence of chaeta O on head, and from the later by the separation of tubercles Di and De on Th. I. The muscular insertion pattern of th...

Although significant progress has been made using insect taxa as model organisms, non-tracheated terrestrial arthropods, such as Collembola, are underrepresented as model species. This underrepresentation reflects the difficulty in maintaining populations of specialist Collembola species in the laboratory. Until now, no species from the family Neanuridae have been successfully reared. Here we u...

This study combined complete 18S with partial 28S rRNA gene sequences (~2000 nt total) to investigate the relations of basal hexapods. Ten species of Protura, 12 of Diplura, and 10 of Collembola (representing all subgroups of these three clades) were sequenced, along with five true insects and eight other arthropods, which served as outgroups. Trees were constructed with maximum parsimony, maxi...

This case report is presumed to be the first case of infestation of a cat by springtails which are small arthropods closely related to insects. The organisms, found by skin scrapings, were identified as Proisotoma spp. (Collembola: Isotomidae). The cat presented with dermatological lesions (itchy, furfuraceous dermatitis), and we speculate that they were due to this infestation. The pathogenic ...

A molecular approach, using aphid-specific monoclonal antibodies, was used to test the hypothesis that alternative prey can affect predation on aphids by linyphiid spiders. These spiders locate their webs in cereal crops within microsites where prey density is high. Previous work demonstrated that of two subfamilies of Linyphiidae, one, the Linyphiinae, is web-dependent and makes its webs at si...

BACKGROUND Collembola (springtails) represent a soil-living lineage of hexapods in between insects and crustaceans. Consequently, their genomes may hold key information on the early processes leading to evolution of Hexapoda from a crustacean ancestor. METHOD We assembled and annotated transcriptomes of the Collembola Folsomia candida and Orchesella cincta, and performed comparative analysis ...

Global environmental changes affect not only the aboveground but also the belowground components of ecosystems. The effects of seasonal drought and air warming on the genus level richness of Collembola, and on the abundance and biomass of the community of Collembola and mites were studied in an acidic and a calcareous forest soil in a model oak-ecosystem experiment (the Querco experiment) at th...

This study combined complete 18S with partial 28S ribosomal RNA gene sequences ( approximately 2,000 nt in total) to investigate the relations of basal hexapods. Ten species of Protura, 12 of Diplura, and 10 of Collembola (representing all subgroups of these three clades) were sequenced, along with 5 true insects and 8 other arthropods, which served as out-groups. Trees were constructed with ma...