springtail
Any of various wingless hexapods, of the subclass Collembola, with spring-like legs.
Noun
- Any of various wingless hexapods, of the subclass Collembola, with spring-like legs.
- Among the wonders of the natural world that few people have ever noticed: a semiaquatic springtail in motion. - 2022 November 7, Oliver Whang, “Why Fly or Swim When You Can Jump? Ask the Springtail.”, in The New York...
- Springtails, or collembolans, are strictly not insects because of technicalities to do with the position of their mouthparts, but they are the closest cousins of insects. - 2022, Thomas Halliday, Otherlands, Penguin,...
Origin
From spring + tail.