One of the nice byproducts of rearing leafminers is that in checking the vials every day, I get to see some interesting tiny bugs I never would have seen otherwise (in addition to the actual leafminers and their parasitoids). There are often, for instance, beautiful barklice, thrips, and springtails that happen to be on the leaves I pick, going unnoticed for several days until they wander off the leaf and onto the side of the vial.
Among the leaves I collected this past April at Cane Creek Canyon Nature Preserve were some plantain-leaved pussytoes (Antennaria cf. plantaginifolia) with agromyzid fly mines. Later this handsome little springtail (1.4 mm long) appeared in the vial:
Frans Janssens has just identified it as Orchesella flora (Entomobryidae), a species for which there seem to be no other online images. At least, mine was the first on BugGuide and for Frans’ extensive galley of springtail photos.
This thing should be the next beanie-baby! great shot. You are my hero!