Lichen Life

I was hoping to find tardigrades so I scraped some lichen off a wall and inverted it in a petri dish, adding some distilled water. After an hour or so there was plenty of activity visible under the stereo microscope but no sign of tardigrades.

The next day there were springtails by the dozen. The ones I had seen from the pond were shorter and brownish but these were like shot silk with a fine covering of hairs. The young, if that's what they are, are a lilac-mauve colour and many have been shedding their skins. For no reason that I can see, many have died and lie on the bottom of the dish or are floating upside-down. Many others are happily grazing on the parts of lichen that are above the water. Of course, the springtails can walk across the water's surface as easily as walking on solid.

Photographing them hasn't been easy but here are some shots:

Two small and one larger springtails grazing on lichen.

This one is dead. You can see the furca tucked under the rear of the body. When alive, the furca provide the spring in the tail, enabling the springtail to jump out of a petri dish with no trouble!

For further information on Springtails have a look at the PMS Springtail Group's pages.