Elk Ridge NatureWorks, LLC

"Sharing unique nature experiences in every season"

Nature Connection is the title of a series of nature essays by Liz and Ron on the biological riches of the Allegheny Plateau published each month in their local newspaper. 

A cross-country ski is explored by tiny snow fleas from the surrounding snow.

NATURE CONNECTION

By Liz McDowell & Ron Boyer

You’re skiing along a ridge in Savage River State Forest following some old tracks that you set a few days earlier. The sky is blue and the landscape is white except for the deep green conifers that tower around you. As you kick-and-glide down the trail, you spy a color out of place in this winter view. Up ahead it looks as though a vandal has taken a wide brush and painted the ski track black. The solid swath is roughly 10 feet in length surrounded by a splattering of additional paint. And then it hits you. You’ve seen that speckled pattern before, resembling scattered grains from the careless handling of a peppershaker by a picnicker. Dropping low to the ground for a closer look you witness the “paint drops” and “pepper grains” come to life. This wasn’t the work of a vandal. You were simply lucky enough to ski into an incredibly large population of Snow Fleas, Achorutes nivicolus.

The name “Snow Flea”, though quite descriptive of when they can be found and how they move, is actually quite misleading. These primitive, wingless insects eat pollen, fungi and decaying vegetation, as opposed to the blood of birds and mammals. They are minute, measuring no more than one-sixth of an inch in length, with fewer abdominal segments than most insects. These dark-gray to black insects move by means of a special appendage on their abdomen called a furcula. This two-prong structure is folded forward under the abdomen and held in place by what is best described as clasps. When these are released, the furcula springs backward propelling the Snow Flea into the air; hence the other common name for this insect — Springtail. Interestingly enough, one expert reports that Springtails are unable to control their flight path and frequently land back in the same place. Unluckily, this writer did not make similar observations. In fact, time and again just as my macro-lens was focused on an individual Snow Flea it would leap well out of the range of the camera’s viewfinder.

Springtails are members of the insect Order Collembola. Over 6,000 species have been described worldwide, with over 300 species in North America alone. Their habitats range from volcanoes to lakes to polar ice caps and everywhere in between. Their colors vary from white to black and include vivid yellows and purples. What they share in common is a ventral tube on their abdomen used for breathing, regulating their water content and adhering to surfaces. The “sticking” function of this tube was first identified by scientists and resulted in the Order name Collembola, meaning “glue peg”.

Snow Fleas are an important part of the food web, compensating for their tiny size by their countless numbers. Most of the year, you’d never know they existed. But in Garrett County on warm winter days from January to March, you have the chance to take a peak at their world. So before the snows completely melt take a close-look at that dirty snow. It may just be soot, but then again it may be a congregation of mating Snow Fleas.
 

This essay was first published in The Republican Newspaper on Thursday, March 13, 2003.

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Last modified: 02/05/2008