springtail

English

Sminthurus viridis, a species of springtail

Etymology

From spring +‎ tail.

Noun

springtail (plural springtails)

1. Any of various wingless hexapods, of the subclass Collembola, with spring-like legs. [from 18th c.]
   • 2022 November 7, Oliver Whang, “Why Fly or Swim When You Can Jump? Ask the Springtail.”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Among the wonders of the natural world that few people have ever noticed: a semiaquatic springtail in motion.

   • 2022, Thomas Halliday, Otherlands, Penguin, published 2023, page 214:

     Springtails, or collembolans, are strictly not insects because of technicalities to do with the position of their mouthparts, but they are the closest cousins of insects.

Translations

springtail

• Finnish: hyppyhäntäinen (fi)
• French: collembole (fr) m
• German: Springschwanz m
• Irish: preabaire m
• Italian: collembolo m
• Korean: 톡토기 (toktogi)
• Polish: skoczogonek m
• Russian: колле́мбола (ru) f (kollémbola)
• Ukrainian: коле́мбола f (kolémbola)