Hi. I have lots of small hopping brown shrimp/flea like bugs in the garden hiding under leaves, stones etc. Are they Arcitalitrus Sylvaticus?
What do they do, are they harmfull in any way and is there anything I should do about them?
Thanks.

The message
from flyingelephant contains
these words:

Hi. I have lots of small hopping brown shrimp/flea like bugs in the
garden hiding under leaves, stones etc. Are they Arcitalitrus
Sylvaticus?
What do they do, are they harmfull in any way and is there anything I
should do about them?

Common. Never bothered to ask what they are, but I've had them hopping
around amongst the débris round my gardening efforts for the last - oh -
sixty-five years.

I've never noticed them doing anything harmful.

--
Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
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flyingelephant wrote:


Hi. I have lots of small hopping brown shrimp/flea like bugs in the
garden hiding under leaves, stones etc. Are they Arcitalitrus
Sylvaticus?

In the UK?

What do they do, are they harmfull in any way and is there anything I
should do about them?
Thanks.

Springtails, I would think.


--
Sleepalot aa #1385

"flyingelephant" wrote in
message ...

Hi. I have lots of small hopping brown shrimp/flea like bugs in the
garden hiding under leaves, stones etc. Are they Arcitalitrus
Sylvaticus?
What do they do, are they harmfull in any way and is there anything I
should do about them?
Thanks.

How big are they? Collembola are very small, but do hop. They are completely
harmless, and are an important part of the soil ecosystem.

John

I'm not sure what species (Arcitalitrus sylvestris or dorrieni) they
are, but 'landhoppers' appear to be more prevalent and spreading.
They are significantly larger than 'springtails' being upwards of 1cm.
long. I understand they are alien to the UK, but became established
in milder coastal regions and have spread steadily outside these
ranges. To all intents and purposes, they appear to be the land
equivalent of the freshwater shrimp and feed on decaying plant matter
and detritus. They do no harm to living plants, although it can be a
bit surprising to shift a pot or a pile of wet leaves and find
hundreds of them frantically hopping about in order to escape the
light. I first noticed them in my garden several years ago and
mentioned it here on URG at the time.

The message

from Dave Poole contains these words:

I'm not sure what species (Arcitalitrus sylvestris or dorrieni) they
are, but 'landhoppers' appear to be more prevalent and spreading.
They are significantly larger than 'springtails' being upwards of 1cm.
long. I understand they are alien to the UK, but became established
in milder coastal regions and have spread steadily outside these
ranges. To all intents and purposes, they appear to be the land
equivalent of the freshwater shrimp and feed on decaying plant matter
and detritus. They do no harm to living plants, although it can be a
bit surprising to shift a pot or a pile of wet leaves and find
hundreds of them frantically hopping about in order to escape the
light. I first noticed them in my garden several years ago and
mentioned it here on URG at the time.

Coo! Could you catch me some, please?

I'm making a vivarium for land hermit crabs, but I have another two old
glass accumulator cases which should be ideal for those.

I can devise and send (with return postage) a container you can put damp
stuff in, then pop them in through a sprung trap in the top.

--
Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
Separator in search of a sig

South West UK, and yes they are up to around 1cm in length. I'll put a load in the compost heap if they are good for eating old dead vegitation.

In article 00655d25-16b7-40df-9c86-
,
says...
I'm not sure what species (Arcitalitrus sylvestris or dorrieni) they
are, but 'landhoppers' appear to be more prevalent and spreading.
They are significantly larger than 'springtails' being upwards of 1cm.
long. I understand they are alien to the UK, but became established
in milder coastal regions and have spread steadily outside these
ranges. To all intents and purposes, they appear to be the land
equivalent of the freshwater shrimp and feed on decaying plant matter
and detritus. They do no harm to living plants, although it can be a
bit surprising to shift a pot or a pile of wet leaves and find
hundreds of them frantically hopping about in order to escape the
light. I first noticed them in my garden several years ago and
mentioned it here on URG at the time.

I did not realise that everyone didn't have them!
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

Rusty Hinge wrote:

Coo! Could you catch me some, please?
I'm making a vivarium for land hermit crabs, but I have another two old
glass accumulator cases which should be ideal for those.

I think the only problem with keeping these would be that they need
rather high levels of constant moisture and appear to shun the
light. They would be in hiding for almost all of the time and your
accumulator cases would appear empty as a result. I suspect they like
it cool but never freezing as well. I've just found this*, which gives
the impression of what they look like. Nothing very impressive I'm
afraid and they move so quickly any questionable attractions are very
hard to spot.

* http://www.boxvalley.co.uk/nature/sns/wad43/w43-ad.htm

I'll have a rummage next weekend and make sure they're still around.

The message
from Charlie Pridham contains these words:

did not realise that everyone didn't have them!

I thought the OP must have been talking about springtails - but I
couldn't remember their name, despite trawling the Reverse Dictionary.

--
Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
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The message
from Dave Poole contains these words:
Rusty Hinge wrote:

Coo! Could you catch me some, please?
I'm making a vivarium for land hermit crabs, but I have another two old
glass accumulator cases which should be ideal for those.

I think the only problem with keeping these would be that they need
rather high levels of constant moisture and appear to shun the
light. They would be in hiding for almost all of the time and your
accumulator cases would appear empty as a result. I suspect they like
it cool but never freezing as well. I've just found this*, which gives
the impression of what they look like. Nothing very impressive I'm
afraid and they move so quickly any questionable attractions are very
hard to spot.

* http://www.boxvalley.co.uk/nature/sns/wad43/w43-ad.htm

I'll have a rummage next weekend and make sure they're still around.

I really don't mind if they are invisible most of the time - and keeping
them moist is no problem as I don't have central heating.

I like 'odd' things, hence the attraction of dry-land hermit crabs.

--
Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
Separator in search of a sig

AriesVal wrote:

On Sun, 16 Nov 2008 12:22:05 +0000, flyingelephant wrote:

Hi. I have lots of small hopping brown shrimp/flea like bugs in the
garden hiding under leaves, stones etc. Are they Arcitalitrus
Sylvaticus?
What do they do, are they harmfull in any way and is there anything I
should do about them?
Thanks.

We used to have those critters when we lived by the sea but not seen them
anywhere else

There's a beach, somewhere around Barmouth, Wales: I used to go
there on holiday in the '60's. The beach was alive with sandhoppers.


--
Sleepalot aa #1385

In article ,
says...
The message
from Charlie Pridham contains these words:

did not realise that everyone didn't have them!

I thought the OP must have been talking about springtails - but I
couldn't remember their name, despite trawling the Reverse Dictionary.


They seem to be found in wet sand at the beach as well as under rocks in
the garden, they are the all time favourite food of the robins!
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

The message
from Charlie Pridham contains these words:
In article ,
says...
The message
from Charlie Pridham contains these words:

did not realise that everyone didn't have them!

I thought the OP must have been talking about springtails - but I
couldn't remember their name, despite trawling the Reverse Dictionary.


They seem to be found in wet sand at the beach as well as under rocks in
the garden, they are the all time favourite food of the robins!

They're not just sand-hoppers, are they?

Move any pile of seaweed...

--
Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
Separator in search of a sig

In article ,
says...
The message
from Charlie Pridham contains these words:
In article ,
says...
The message
from Charlie Pridham contains these words:

did not realise that everyone didn't have them!

I thought the OP must have been talking about springtails - but I
couldn't remember their name, despite trawling the Reverse Dictionary.


They seem to be found in wet sand at the beach as well as under rocks in
the garden, they are the all time favourite food of the robins!

They're not just sand-hoppers, are they?

Move any pile of seaweed...


They look identical to me!
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea