globular springtails

5871   Thousands of these showed up all over my farm fence today. Seems that touching them makes them jump. They are very small. I live in South Western BC, near Vancouver. It is November and we have just had a lot of rain and wind.

These are globular springtails (Collembola: Dicyrtomidae); possibly in the genus Ptenothrix – see http://tinyurl.com/zstplzs for an example. These basically are scavengers that do not appear to be pests in the sense of causing any damage/harm, but may be considered nuisances when they occur in large numbers. Ed Saugstad, retired entomologist; Sinks Grove, WV.