I braved the continuing cold weather and had my first proper garden safari of the year yesterday. As usual, there were a few different species of springtail to see, including a new one for me. All pictures 1/250, f/10 or f/9, MP-E65 on 7D, ISO 200, lighting provided by MT-24EX. Any help or corrections to identification would be appreciated.
First was a decent-sized one, probably about 4mm. Given the colour I'm pretty certain this must be Isotoma viridis.
Later I found another green one, but smaller and paler than the first. Is it also I. viridis, or something different?
There seem to be a few species that look a bit like this one, so I'm not sure which it is.
I think this one is probably Orchesella villosa.
Then, right down in the far corner of my garden, where I pretty much leave things alone, and have rotting tree trunks etc., I lifted some leaf litter and found this in there. From the length of the antenna I'm sure this must be Tomocerus longcornis. I was excited about this one, because I've never seen one before (whatever it is).
This first view is a 5-shot focus stack.
Here's a 3-shot stack from above.
And finally I managed to get alongside him for a single shot.
In all these three images you can see to the right of the springtail a small white sphere that must be some sort of egg. You might also be able to make out to the left of the springtail a tiny worm of some sort. I never even saw that when I took the pictures.
I got quite cold (it was about 5C), but it was worth it.
