Information Sheet
Grassland Animals

Springtails

They live in the top layer of soil, both in grassland and woodland, and may occur in huge numbers (up to 2 million in a square metre!). These tiny insects have a fork attached to part of the abdomen which can be jerked backwards thus shooting the springtail in to the air.

Canterbury Environmental
Education Centre

Springtails eat :
mosses, algae, fungi

They are eaten by :
hedgehogs, frogs.

Phylum: Arthropod

Group: Insecta