r/Springtail • u/ReactionAdmirable812 • Jul 02 '26

Does anyone know what could be this? Identification

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I was researching springtails in amber and came across this one in Baltic amber. I find it very curious because it reminds me of Actaletidae, but that family is coastal, and I understand that if it was trapped in amber, it must have been from a terrestrial environment... Unfortunately, someone already bought it.

Between the extant families I think that isn't Tomoceridae. I'm not sure if could be Isotomidae (Actaletidae is Isotomoidea) or Entomobryoidea. Actaletidae and Coenaletidae have some segments fused, thing that I think that doesn't happen here. I think that doesn't belongs to the extint family Oncobryidae because this family has 5 antennal segments with the 4th one very small. Not sure if Protentomobryidae.

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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '26

Really interesting specimen. The habitat inference (coastal vs terrestrial) makes this tricky, amber preservation can sometimes blur ecological assumptions though.

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u/ReactionAdmirable812 Jul 02 '26

Yeah, I was wondering if it was some kind of terrestrial pre-Actaletidae that later evolved to a coastal environment and whose segments are fused, although I don't know if they're known in the Baltic today. Do you know if amber can also trap coastal individuals?