Springtails classification

Long considered insects, springtails now form a class in their own right within the sub-phylum of hexapods * (in which insects are dominant) belonging to the phylum of arthropods **. There are around 8000 species in the world, of which around 2200 are present in Europe, and we continue to discover them regularly

To rough up the identification work, I propose here a visual determination tool which, based on simple questions, makes it possible to establish the membership of a springtail to a given family. Indeed, most of these questions * can be answered on the basis of macro photographs.

Springtails are classified in about thirty families divided into four orders. There are two morphological types in Springtails , Arthropleones and Symphypléones. Their size varies between 1 and 4 mm on average but can go down to 0.12 mm Sphaeridia pilleata...

I propose here a clickable list of descriptive files established from my photographic inventory of springtails, made specifically on the regional natural reserve "RNR - Confluence Garonne-Ariège" near Toulouse in France as well as on the Occitanie Region.

Before the appearance of genetics, the classification of living organisms was made by bringing together their common characteristics. These similarities made it possible to position them in an order reflecting the position they occupy in the evolution tree. The grouping of common characters is done around an entity

This article is inspired by the work done by David Porco and Louis Deharveng (National Museum of Natural History) who use the genetic tool and who were kind enough to send me documents relating to their work on springtails. Access to these requires knowledge that the neophyte does not necessarily have, which is why my approach to the object and nature of “barcoding” remains very summary.