Boreus hyemalis
| Snow flea | |
|---|---|
 | |
| B. hyemalis | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Mecoptera |
| Family: | Boreidae |
| Genus: | Boreus |
| Species: | B. hyemalis |
| Binomial name | |
| Boreus hyemalis Linnaeus, 1767 | |
Boreus hyemalis (Syn.: Boreus hiemalis) is an insect, 3 to 4.5 millimetres long from the family of Boreidae. Its English name is snow flea, but this is also the (US) name of a type of springtail.
It has stubby, grey-brown wings with a metallic sheen. Snow fleas crawl or hop over the snow at temperatures around freezing point and thus resemble glacier fleas and snow scorpionflies (which in the UK are also known as snow fleas) of the springtail family in their behaviour.
The males have 4 short, wing vestiges which curve downwards at their ends. The females only have two scale-like wing vestiges. In general, the female may be recognised from a curved, sabre-like pipe that acts as an ovipositor. In their fully formed state, these animals are only found in the colder period of the year between October and March. During this time mating takes place. The larvae live on moss-covered areas and withdraw in September into holes in the group to pupate.
See also
- Hypogastrura nivicola - known in N America as the snow flea
Sources
- Fitch, Asa (May 1847). "Winter Insects of Eastern New York". American Journal of Agriculture and Science 5–6: 274–284. Retrieved 2007-11-01.
- Alfred Edmund Brehm: Däggdjurens Lif. Em. Girons, Stockholm 1882, pp. 145f. (Swedish) (online at: runeberg.org)
- Döderlein: Bestimmungsbuch für deutsche Land- und Süsswassertiere/ Insekten. Part I: Käfer, Wespen, Libellen, Heuschrecken usw. Oldenbourg, Munich, 1932, DNB 365535060, p. 78.