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{{Short description|Species of springtail}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Sminthurusviridis_PublicDomainImage.jpg
| taxon = Sminthurus viridis
| authority = ([[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|1758]])
}}
[[File:Springtail spermatophore.jpg|thumb|left|''Sminthurus'' with spermatophore]]
'''''Sminthurus viridis''''' is a member of the [[Collembola]], the [[springtail]]s, an order in the subphylum [[Hexapoda]].
The species is known by [[common name]]s such as '''clover springtail''',<ref name="[[Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (Queensland)]] - Lucerne flea or Clover springtail">{{cite web|url=https://www.daff.qld.gov.au/plants/field-crops-and-pastures/broadacre-field-crops/integrated-pest-management/a-z-insect-pest-list/lucerne-flea-or-clover-springtail|title=Lucerne flea or Clover springtail|work=[[Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (Queensland)]]|publisher=[[Government of Queensland]]|access-date=13 February 2015}}</ref> '''lucerne flea''',<ref name="Integrated Taxonomic Information System - ITIS standard report - Sminthurus viridis (Linnaeus, 1758)">{{cite web|url=https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=100378|title=ITIS standard report - Sminthurus viridis (Linnaeus, 1758)|publisher=[[Integrated Taxonomic Information System]]|access-date=13 February 2015}}</ref> or '''lucerne earth flea'''.<ref name= "isbn0-409-08398-4">{{cite book |author=Annecke, D. R., Moran, V. C. |title=Insects and mites of cultivated plants in South Africa |publisher=Butterworths |location=London |year=1982 |isbn=0-409-08398-4 }}</ref>

Common names such as '''lucerne flea''' are misleading because, being a member of the Collembola, this species is not even remotely related to the [[flea]]s. Calling it a "flea" simply is a reference to its jumping ability and its small size.<ref name="Chinery_CollinsGuideInsects_1986">{{Cite book |author=Chinery, Michael |title=Collins Guide to the Insects of Britain and Western Europe |orig-year=1986|year=1991|isbn=0-00-219170-9 }}</ref>

The species originated in [[Eurasia]], but in particular in Europe. However, it has been [[Introduced species|spread]] unintentionally by human agency. It now is present in southern regions of [[Australia]] and Tasmania, where it is considered a [[Pest (organism)|pest]].<ref name="WA_PestWeb_Lucerneflea">{{cite web
|url = http://agspsrv34.agric.wa.gov.au/ento/pestweb/Query1_1.idc?ID=1273892568
|title = PestWeb - Lucerne Flea
|access-date = 2008-10-11
|publisher = www.agric.wa.gov.au/
|url-status = dead
|archive-url = http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20090627140901/http://agspsrv34.agric.wa.gov.au/ento/pestweb/Query1_1.idc?ID=1273892568
|archive-date = 2009-06-27
}}</ref><ref name="CSIRO_Insectsandtheirallies_Collembola-springtails_Sminthurusviridis_agriculturalpestinsouthernAustralia">
{{cite web | url=http://www.ento.csiro.au/education/hexapods/collembola.html | title= Collembola - springtails
| access-date = 2009-01-07 | publisher=[[CSIRO]]}}</ref>
It also is present in South Africa, New Zealand, and the Americas. Its pest status varies from negligible to severe, depending on local circumstances.<ref name= "isbn0-409-08398-4"/>

The human-facilitated dispersal methods that have allowed this species to become so widespread are most commonly the movement of eggs and live young in the transportation of animal feed, seeds, and soil.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Roberts |first=John M. K. |last2=Weeks |first2=Andrew R. |date=2011 |title=Genetic structure and long-distance dispersal in populations of the wingless pest springtail, Sminthurus viridis (Collembola: Sminthuridae) |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0016672310000510/type/journal_article |journal=Genetics Research |language=en |volume=93 |issue=1 |pages=1–12 |doi=10.1017/S0016672310000510 |issn=0016-6723|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Davidson |first=James |date=1934 |title=The "Lucerne Flea" Smynthums viridis L.(Collembola) in Australia. |journal=Bulletin for Council of Scientific and Industrial Research |volume=79 |pages=4-69}}</ref> These methods are how the species initially got introduced to Australia.<ref name=":1" />

==Description==
Like other members of the family [[Sminthuridae]], ''S. viridis'' has a roughly globular body. The species varies in colour, but commonly is patchy bright green or yellowish.<ref name= "isbn0-409-08398-4"/> As Collembola go, it is a fairly large species, commonly up to about 3 mm in length. The species has a well-developed [[Furcula (springtail)|furcula]] and it leaps actively if alarmed.<ref name="RJUP">Roberts, John & Umina, Paul. Lucerne Flea. AG0415. June, 2008 Centre for Environmental Stress and Adaptation Research (CESAR), University of Melbourne. Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP), Victoria, Australia</ref>
The mouthparts of ''S. viridis'' are [[Insect morphology#Mandibulate|mandibulate]], meaning that they have biting mouthparts, though only the tips of the mandibles project out of the mouth folds.{{cn|date=April 2025}}

==Biology==
The mature female lays variable batches of eggs, usually in damp soil or litter. Oviposition is slow; she takes a few minutes to lay each egg. The eggs are very difficult to find in the field because they are covered by sticky excreta containing soil that the female had swallowed. The eggs are spherical, pale yellow, and only about a 1/4 mm in diameter. Their resistance to both drought and cold has enabled the species to survive introduction from cool, moist conditions of Northern Europe, to Australasia and Southern Africa. In conditions of drought, they simply enter a state of [[aestivation]] in the form of [[diapause]] in which embryonic development is delayed. The delay lasts till a period of soaking rain sets in or until irrigation begins. During a period of active breeding when plenty of moisture exists, the hatching period is variable; under favourable conditions, most eggs hatch in about 2 weeks, but some take 3 weeks or more, while eggs that have aestivated hatch at various intervals over period around a week to a month or more after wet conditions return. When rain is delayed in spring, a bank of partly developed eggs in the soil may accumulate, leading to something of an explosion of emergence after good rain.{{cn|date=April 2025}}

Their lifecycles vary with climatic conditions and also with gender; males and female develop according to different schedules. Males are somewhat smaller than females and they undergo [[ecdysis]] only four times, after which they are ready for reproductive activity. They produce [[spermatophore]]s mounted on fine stems well above the substrate surface. A female that encounters such a spermatophore might take it up into her [[cloaca]] or simply eat it if she is not receptive. Rival males might eat each other's spermatophores or even their own after they have failed to attract any female and are no longer viable.{{cn|date=April 2025}}

The female sheds her skin nine times, but achieves sexual maturity in the sixth [[instar]], that is, after the fifth ecdysis. The earlier instars last for only a matter of days, but the sexually functional instars for a fortnight or so. The fully mature female might live for two months or more. Generations in the field overlap, but roughly four to eight generations a year might occur, depending on the region and conditions.{{cn|date=April 2025}}

== Population Genetics ==
''S. viridis'', due to human dispersal, is found in a wide variety of places, but they do not move between populations much, limiting gene flow between populations. In Australia, different populations were confirmed to be somewhat genetically distinct from one another because of their lack of natural movement. Despite this, they remain as all one species because they still share major genetic similarities.<ref name=":0" />

==Pest status==
''S. viridis'' often swarms in large numbers on living plants, especially [[Fabaceae]]. It commonly occurs on [[alfalfa|lucerne]] (an alternative name for alfalfa, hence the first part of the common name). It feeds mainly on the surface cells of leaves, and when it occurs in especially high densities, it causes enough damage to be regarded as an agricultural pest. In this respect, it is unusual among Collembola, because very few members of the [[Order (biology)#Hierarchy of ranks|suborder]] do significant harm and some actually are mildly beneficial, either as predators{{citation needed|date=February 2017}}.

The biological control of ''S. viridis'' is fairly complex and reasonably effective where it is adequate, because no one agent accounts for the entire control. For instance, fungal infections have been documented as killing the springtails, though they are not seen as major control agents.<ref>Keller, Siegfried; Steenberg, Tove / Neozygites sminthuri sp. nov. (Zygomycetes, Entomophthorales), a pathogen of the springtail Sminthurus viridis L. (Collembola, Sminthuridae) Sydowia, Vol. 49, No. 1, 1997, p. 22-24.</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q3963019}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Symphypleona]]
[[Category:Animals described in 1758]]
[[Category:Arthropods of Europe]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus]]

Sminthurus viridis - Revision history

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