Piles of Snow Fleas
We tend to associate snow fleas, a type of springtail, with winter, as that is when we can easily see their tiny black bodies against the white snow. However, these insects don’t magically appear when it snows – they are in the leaf litter and soil all year round. Snow fleas are considered to be one of the most numerous land animals on earth, with several hundred thousand inhabiting a cubic yard. Even so, it was with amazement that I found several piles of snow fleas at the base of my garage door this morning – it’s the wrong time of year, and most of the individual snow fleas were not scattered apart from each other. Several solid black patches of snow fleas, one patch measuring roughly 6” by 2 ½ ”, piled 1/8” high, had appeared overnight. Something about the warm, humid air this morning may have caused them to leave the safety of the forest floor and for some unknown reason gather in piles on the cement. Once the garage door was raised, the piles disappeared within five minutes, as each tiny snow flea catapulted itself several inches away and disappeared into fallen leaves.
Naturally Curious with Mary Holland 
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