Guide to the Springtails of Panama and Costa Rica (Collembola)

Abstract Springtails are small arthropods, traditionally considered to be members of the class Insecta and the subclass Apterygota. Many authors now believe that they are better placed either with the class Entognatha, together with the orders Diplura and Protura (see diagram of the Hexapoda, p. xii), or as a separate class, Collembola. Springtails are most commonly found in such humid habitats as moist ground, forest litter, moss and bark of trees, nests of social insects, and nests of some birds and mammals. They exist in great diversity in caves and caverns, where their populations can become very large (Palacios-Vargas 1983a; Hoffmann et al. 1986; Christiansen and Reddell 1986). Generally, species that live in arid areas (Palacios-Vargas 1988) are covered by scales or bristles that protect them from desiccation. Springtails are common on epiphytes (Palacios-Vargas 1981), and in freshwater and marine littoral regions (Christiansen and Bellinger 1988), and are among the surface inhabitants of freshwater bodies (epineuston, see Rapoport and Sanchez 1963; Palacios-Vargas and Vazquez 1988). They can be found from sea-level to more than 7000 m, under permanent ice.