Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Any of numerous small wingless hexapods of the class Collembola, having the ability to jump by means of a forked appendage on the abdomen that acts as a spring.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A collembolous thysanurous insect which leaps or skips about by means of abdominal hairs acting like a spring, as any poduran.
- noun A thysanurous insect of the suborder Cinura, oftener called
bristletail . See Cinura, Lepisma, and cut undersilver fish . - noun One of certain minute neuropterous insects of the panorpid genus Boreus, found in moss and on the surface of snow; a snow-fly. This insect springs, but not by means of anal appendages.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Zoöl.) Any one of numerous species of small apterous insects belonging to the order Thysanura. They have two elastic caudal stylets which can be bent under the abdomen and then suddenly extended like a spring, thus enabling them to leap to a considerable distance. See
collembola , andpodura .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Any of various
wingless insects , of the orderCollembola , that have spring-like legs.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun any of numerous minute wingless primitive insects possessing a special abdominal appendage that allows the characteristic nearly perpetual springing pattern; found in soil rich in organic debris or on the surface of snow or water
Etymologies
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Examples
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She felt bugs crawling under her skin, and one day, she said, she pulled a worm out of her eyeball and coughed up a springtail fly.
Whatever Happened To ... the mysterious disease known as Morgellons Brigid Schulte 2010
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While conducting ecological inventories of 30 caves on the Colorado Plateau of northern Arizona, research by Wynne and Voyles has resulted in the discovery of at least 10 new species, including a new species of spider, a new genus of cave cricket (Family Rhaphidophoridae), possibly two new cricket species, a new barklouse (Psocoptera) species, a new beetle species, and possibly two new springtail species (Collembola).
Archive 2007-03-01 2007
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Moreover, there is experimental evidence that population densities of numerically dominant tundra Collembola (springtail) species such as '' Folsomia quadrioculata '' and '' Hypogastrura tullbergi '' can be halved following an episode of freezing rain on Spitzbergen [172].
Phenotypic responses of arctic species to changes in climate and ultraviolet-B radiation 2009
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A glacier species of particular note is the glacier flea Isotoma saltans, a species of springtail.
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I've never seen a springtail that looked quite like that.
Springtail before it sprung away AYDIN 2007
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He said the island was home to 16 springtail species, five of which were invaders thought to have been introduced following the establishment of the South African scientific station on the island in
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I saw this little springtail—barely a millimeter long—sitting on a mushroom on a rotting trunk in the woods last weekend.
Springtail before it sprung away AYDIN 2007
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I saw this little springtail—barely a millimeter long—sitting on a mushroom on a rotting trunk in the woods last weekend.
Archive 2007-01-01 AYDIN 2007
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The No. 1 offender on his top 10 list is an animal most people have never heard of but obviously find commonly: a tiny arthropod called a springtail.
Vail Daily - Top Stories Adrian Higgins L.A. Times/Washington Post News Ser 2010
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The No. 1 offender on his top 10 list is an animal most people have never heard of but obviously find commonly: a tiny arthropod called a springtail.
Vail Daily - Top Stories Adrian Higgins L.A. Times/Washington Post News Ser 2010
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