Springtail (springtail) - Springtail (English spelling)

Japanese: トビムシ(跳虫) - トビムシ（英語表記）spring‐tail

A general term for insects belonging to the Collembola order. They are found in areas ranging from the tropics to the polar regions and alpine zones. Their main sources of nutrition are plant matter, humus, mycelium, and spores, and they are often found in fallen leaves and moist humus soil, but their habitat is wide, and they are found in grasslands, trees, deep in caves, inside termite and ant nests, on the surface of water, on snow, and even on snowfields and glaciers. There is also remarkable differentiation in lifestyle and morphology. Most of them are small, less than 5 mm in length, so they are not conspicuous, but their population is extremely large, and in Japanese forests, they regularly reach a density of more than 50,000 individuals per square meter.

Springtail (Collembol)

It is also used as a general term for crustaceans in the suborder Gammaridea, or as a name representing a specific species within the order. The Gammaridea is represented by the gammarus and similar species, which are commonly found in rivers, ponds, and other areas. When they come onto land, they move by jumping, so they are also commonly called springtails. In addition, species belonging to the Talitridae family (English names: sand hopper, sand flea, beach flea), which includes many terrestrial species, are also commonly called springtails, and this name is used in their Japanese names.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

トビムシ目Collembolaに属する昆虫の総称。熱帯から極地，高山帯にまで分布する。おもな栄養源は，植物質，腐植質，菌糸，胞子で，落葉の中や湿った腐植土に多いが，生活圏は広く，草原，樹上，洞窟の奥，シロアリやアリの巣内，水面，雪上，雪渓や氷河の上にすら見いだされる。生活様式や形態の分化も著しい。そのほとんどが体長5mm以下と小さいので目だたないが，個体数はきわめて多く，日本の森林内では1m2当り5万個体以上の密度に達しているのがつねである。

トビムシ【トビムシ(跳虫)】

端脚目ヨコエビ亜目の甲殻類の総称，あるいはこれに属する特定の種類を代表する呼名としても用いられる。ヨコエビ類Gammarideaは，河川や池沼などにふつうに見られるヨコエビGammarusおよびこれに近似の種類で代表される。これらは陸上に出ると跳躍して運動するので，一般にトビムシとも呼ばれる。また，陸生種を多く含むハマトビムシ科Talitridae(英名sand hopper,sand flea,beach flea)に属する種類も一般にトビムシと呼び，この名が和名につけられている。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

<<: Tohimondo - Dialogue between the capital and the countryside

>>: Flying fire - Tobibi