Collembola

[Ramsi]

http://www.headlice.org/report/research/jnyes.pdf
Hi:
I stumbled upon this information today. Where any of the suferrers tested for Collembola?>>> It seams afully simmilar to our conditions.
Bellow a passage from this:
"Abstract - Twenty individuals diagnosed with delusory parasitosis participated in a single site clinical study under the auspices of the National Pediculosis Association (NPA) and the Oklahoma State Department of Health. The objective of this study was to determine if there were any common factors in skin scrapings collected from this population. These individuals, whose symptoms were originally attributed to lice or scabies, were part of a larger group reporting symptoms of stinging/biting and/or crawling to the NPA. Multiple skin scrapings from each person were microscopically examined. Any and all fields of view that appeared incongruous to normal human skin were digitally photographed. When the photographic images were initially evaluated, no common factor was identified. However, more extensive scrutiny using imaging software revealed evidence of Collembola in 18 of the 20 participants."

Happy holidays: Merry Christmas and God Bless us all.
Ramsi

[linnysue]

I am not affiliated with Derma TechRx, and haven't purchased any of their products, but I have to say they are some of the most helpful people even if you don't buy anything from them.
They have some information on Collembola, also called Springtails. Here are some links:

http://dermatechrx.com/scabies/KEi/scabies_ad3.htm

http://www.dermatechrx.com/SkinParas...uide/index.htm

Has anyone here tried Derma Tech's products? Any success with Diatomaceous Earth?

Linda P.
Utah

[ladycolorado]

i will say that my ordeal began with 6 back to back outbreaks of headlice. the next outbreak was springtails, they even burrowed under my skin. the last one was some weird winged insect that i belive bit. i have talked on the phone with a morgs doctor in florida and he confirmed reports of this from patients. i should have jarred one, but was such an aination to me (they were biting my daughter too) that i smooshed it.can anyone please shed some light on these things)? i feel stuipid to discuss it but have searched insects have no clue what they may be.they are small winged 3 segmented and creepy.

[Franky]

Ramsi that is some really interesting information there! These are some really freaky insects.

A little Info for Others:

Collembola are primitive wingless insects in the subclass Apterygota. They are chiefly soil and/or litter dwellers, and live off the fungi that decompose organic matter. Like other insects, they have three body parts (head, thorax, and abdomen), three pairs of legs, and one pair of antenna. Unlike most insects, they have no wings at any stage. Instead they posses a forked "tail" called a furcula, which enables them to spring out of harm's way. Their common name - springtails, comes from this behavior. They are only a few mm long at the most, and rather hard to find. However, they usually occur in large groups and can be observed walking about if the top layer of leaf litter is carefully removed.

Different Collembola appear to be specialized for different microhabitats in the litter, ranging from the warm and dry surface layer down to the cool, moist, deep litter layers. Surface dwelling species like Entomobrya andTomocerus are typically covered with hair or scales, have a ventral tube (collophore), long legs, a well developed furcula, long antenna, and well formed eyes. These traits allow them to tolerate a more variable environment, move rapidly when out in the open, and help protect them from drying out. Deep litter or soil dwelling species like Onychiurus andHypogastrura have short legs and antenna, a short or absent furcula, no collophore and may be eyeless. These traits allow the deep litter and soil dwelling species to slip easily through the pores in the soil or between closely packed leaf layers. A third distinctive group of collembolans have globe-shaped abdomens as seen in Dicyrtoma. These species are usually found in grassy habitats.

Collembola have indeterminate growth and continue to molt after reaching adulthood(a characteristic unique to Aptergota). The immature Collembola look like the adults, but lack reproductive organs. Reproduction is repeated over the span of several years and occurs in aggregations. Somehow molting helps to synchronize these aggregations. The eggs hatch in response to warm temperatures, restricting hatching to spring and summer.

Major Families:

# Hypogastruridae -- the largest family in the order. These are small, plump hexapods that may lack compound eyes or a springtail (furcula). Includes the snowflea, Hypogastrura nivicola.
# Isotomidae -- second largest family in the order. These hexapods are elongate and lack scales on the upper surface of the body.
# Entomobryidae -- common soil-dwellers. The fourth abdominal segment is significantly longer than the others.
# Sminthuridae -- body globular in shape. The family includes the garden springtail (Bourletiella hortensis) which occasionally damages plant seedlings.



# Springtails may be extremely abundant in certain habitats. Population densities exceeding 750 million individuals per hectare (300 million per acre) have been found in some grassland communities.

# Springtails "hop" by snapping their furcula against the substrate. In this manner, they may propel themselves up to 20 cm in the air -- a distance 50-100 times their own body length!

# Unlike most other arthropods, springtails appear to have evolved in cool climates. Their relative abundance in the soil tends to increase as the mean annual temperature decreases.

# The snowflea, Hypogastrura nivicola, is a dark blue collembolan that is often found on the surface of melting snow in late winter or early spring. Other cold-loving species are found on the surface of glacial ice in the far North.

# Females of some Sminthuridae cover their eggs with a glaze of freshly eaten soil and fecal material. This mixture evidently protects the eggs from dehydration and fungal attack.

# Like other non-insect hexapods, Collembola continue to molt after they reach sexual maturity. But unlike other taxa, reproductive activity occurs only during alternate instars: each reproductive stage is followed by a molt, a short period of feeding, and another molt.

# Some springtails live in caves or in the burrows of small mammals. A few species, including all members of the family Cyphoderidae, live in the nests of social insects.

# Springtails come in a wide variety of decorator colors, including white, pink, yellow, green, orange, red, blue, and indigo.