These two stunning forest floor giants are separated by about 80 million years of evolutionary isolation and roughly 1,500 miles of ocean (AKA the Tasman Sea).
For scale, this Tasmanian 'dragon' springtail is on an Australian two-dollar coin (20 mm diameter), and the chunkier New Zealand 'giant' springtail is on a NZ one-dollar coin (26.5 mm diameter). The Kiwi species have the record for largest springtail in the world, but I think the Tassie ones aren't far behind!
They probably need a different name than springtail though, they're both so gargantuan that they have evolutionarily lost their totally pointless springing organs.
#TheWorldBeneathOurFeet #Macrophotography #Nature #Entomology #Soil
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@frankashwood
Simply majestic creatures
Sometimes I'm sad that the trilobites are gone, that the ammonoids are no longer with us... but then I remember I do share a planet with some of the great beautiful living beasts.