Groningen professor of soil fauna and natural ecosystem dynamics Matty Berg discovered a species of springtail which had not previously been seen in the Netherlands.
Translation by Traci White
The springtail species, whose scientific name is Frisea baltica, is .8 millimeters long and was spotted by the professor on the uninhabited Dutch island of Griend.
Springtails are rare in the Europe and this is the first time that one has been identified in the Netherlands. Professor Berg spotted the tiny creature in detritus that had washed ashore during high tide.
Thee horns
According to Natuurmonumenten, it was kismet that professor Berg was the one to stumble upon the springtail: he is one of only a small number of experts on the species in the Netherlands. Berg has proposed naming the Dutch species the “Baltic three-horned springtail” based on where they are typically found and the characteristic three horns that they have on their backside.
Griend, which is located between Harlingen and Terschelling, falls under the purview of the Dutch Nature Monuments organisation. The island is a popular breeding ground for seagulls and terns. Erik Jansen, the forest ranger on the island, says that the discovery is “good news”: “You have to celebrate the little things.”
Died out
The springtail is not the first small creature to be (re)discovered on the island: in 2007, bird watchers spotted the Fenn’s Wainscot, a moth species thought to have died out in the Netherlands, on Griend.
