dcr
Deceased Member
Registered: February 2004
Posts: 1,317
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The top part of this composite photo shows lots of black specks on the snow at the base of a tree, as if someone had spilled pepper there. These black specks however are living creatures - snow fleas. Snow fleas aren't actually fleas, but are tiny insects that come out on warm winter days to eat decayed plant material or sap oozing from trees. They are quite small, measuring only about 1/16 of an inch. They are called fleas because of their size, appearance and ability to jump enormous distances for their size.They use an extraordinary catapult system to move around and to escape danger - two 'tails' on its back end are tucked up underneath the belly, held in place by tiny 'hooks', and when the 'flea' wants to move, it releases the hooks, and these spring-loaded 'tails' hit the snow and launch it in a random direction (they sometimes end up right back in the same spot). That's why snow fleas are also known as springtails. Snow fleas hibernate in the soil during winter. On fairly warm days, like yesterday, they come out to look for food ( thereby helping the environment by recycling organic matter) sometimes in huge numbers, making the snow look black in spots. When you're walking in the woods on a mild winter day, look at the ground occasionally, and if you see black specks on the snow, stop and watch 5-10 seconds - if one or more of the specks suddenly launches itself a foot or so into the air (like a human jumping 100 ft or so), then you are looking at snow fleas. A new antifreeze protein discovered in tiny snow fleas may eventually be used to lengthen the shelf life of human organs for transplantation. The bottom part of the photo shows some of the creatures at the top highly magnified - note the pairs of antennae and six legs coming out of the abdomens. Photo taken yesterday at Week's Woods in Gilford.
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