Collembola, Lubbock, 1870

Rogers, D. Christopher & Cruz-Rivera, Edwin, 2021, A preliminary survey of the inland aquatic macroinvertebrate biodiversity of St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands, Journal of Natural History 55 (13 - 14), pp. 799-850 : 818

Collembola

Little is known about the springtails of Caribbean, let alone the Neotropics ( Cipola et al. 2018). For example, a recent review of Collembola for Puerto Rico and its associated islands lists 146 species of which 43 remain undescribed ( Ospina-Sánchez et al. 2020). Only a handful of studies have assessed the US Virgin Islands collembolan fauna ( Mari Mutt 1978, 1994; Soto-Adames 2002a, 2002b; Soto-Adames and Bellini 2015) and only one ( Soto-Adames 2002b) collected animals at environments associated with aquatic habitats (a dried creek or a beach). We collected a specimen that we identified as belonging to the Entomobryomorpha, possibly Isotoma sp. following the relevant keys ( Mari Mutt 1976; Cipola et al. 2018). The specimen was collected from the University of the Virgin Islands lower campus in a moss clump on a water pipe on the west side of the Classroom Administration Building. The specimen needs to be sent to experts for diagnosis.