Springtail Wiki

Reading level

Changes how much detail each statement shows. Saved on this device.

Theme

Units

Stops animation and uses still drawings.

About the site

Changelog

What changed on the site and when, newest first. Corrections to the data are listed here too.

The springtail life cycle, from egg to adult

A new guide follows one springtail through its egg, its moults and its adult life, and gives the times that were measured.

Added

Fixed

  • The numbers on the funnel drawing in the collecting guide now sit on the parts they name. Before, each was a few pixels off.

Step-by-step drawings in the guides

The guides that set up a culture, seed an enclosure and collect springtails now show each step.

Added

Fixed

  • The word bin in the guides no longer links to the glossary entry for BIN, the barcode index number. An abbreviation links only when it is written in capitals.

Open data, a way to send corrections and hobbyist records

The data is yours to download, any statement can be reported from where it stands, and the cultures say where they came from and what they look like.

Added

  • Open data publishes every table as a CSV file, every full record as JSON and a Data Package file that describes them, with a zip of the lot. Each release keeps its own address for good and lists a checksum for every file.
  • A form to report a mistake, suggest a source or send a sighting. A Report link sits beside every statement. The form asks for no email address, and a message that leads to no change is deleted after 180 days. Send a message.
  • Each culture page says where its line came from and what it looks like, with the evidence level and the sources. The cultures list shows the words under each card and a search finds a culture by them, so a search for iridescent finds the cultures that say so.
  • The cultures list shows how much hobbyists ask for each culture, from Iconic to Niche. You can filter and sort by it. Demand says nothing about how easy a culture is to keep, and the page says so.
  • This changelog is also published as an Atom feed, so a feed reader can tell you when something changes.

Changed

  • Two hobbyist tables now fill gaps in the species and culture pages. They count as one anecdotal source and sit below any published figure. Where the tables disagree with each other or with a published length, the page keeps both and an open question asks for a measurement.
  • Compare and the bioactive explorer cite the claims behind each compatibility fact on its own. One hobbyist report no longer lowers the evidence shown for the other facts about a species.
  • The anatomy explorer names the evidence level beside the length it draws the model at, and says nothing where no length is recorded.

Fixed

  • Question titles showed asterisks around scientific names on 62 pages. They are set in italics now, and the build refuses a page that prints a stray mark.
  • A search answer for a species with cf. in its name ran two words together. It reads as the species page does.

Offline use, installing as an app and clearer previews

Take the key, the calculators and the journal where there is no signal, and share a link that shows what it points at.

Added

  • Offline use keeps the key, glossary, calculators, simulator, troubleshooting, guides, journal, search and comparison on your device. You can save every species page, remove what is stored, or turn it all off. A browser that asks to save data, or a slow connection, does not get the kit unasked.
  • The site installs as an app. The offline page has an install button where your browser allows it and says where to look where it does not.
  • Species pages link to the species on iNaturalist for photographs and an observation map. 36 of the 47 species have one. Nine of the others are hobby morphs with no scientific name. The site hosts no photographs.

Changed

  • Pages load from the network first and fall back to the copy on your device when the network is down or takes over three seconds, so a correction reaches you as soon as you are online.
  • Search results and link previews describe each page in its own words. A shared link shows a picture with no text, the species plate for a species and a sheet of six animals for everything else. A browser can search the site from its address bar.

Fixed

  • Tool pages no longer jump when they finish loading. The journal moved most on a phone. All eleven tool pages now hold still.

Compare species and keep a culture journal

Set species side by side, and keep a private log of your own cultures.

Added

  • Compare sets up to four species side by side, with an evidence label and citations on every answer. A row nobody has answered is never counted as agreement. The animals are drawn at one scale, and the page names the characters that tell each pair apart with the equipment each one needs.
  • Comparisons can be saved on your device. One file moves everything the site keeps on a device to another, with a section for each tool.
  • The journal is a private log of your cultures. Log feeds, mistings, fresh substrate, looks, problems, notes and splits with one press. It shows what to do next and a chart of what you saw against what the simulator expects. Every change can be undone. Nothing leaves your device.

Simulator, calculators, anatomy explorer and sourced lengths

Forecast a culture, work out amounts, and turn an animal round at its true size.

Added

  • The simulator forecasts a culture day by day. It answers in bands, not single numbers. It uses measured life tables where the literature has them and labels what is borrowed or assumed.
  • Calculators for seeding, feeding, harvest, splitting and how many cultures to keep.
  • The anatomy explorer turns a springtail round in 3D and shows it walk and jump. It sets two species at one scale and shows one at true size beside a ruler or a grain of rice. Tap a part to read its definition and sources. A flat drawing stands in where a device draws 3D slowly or you asked for less motion.
  • Adult lengths for 42 of the 47 species, each shown the way its source meant it, as a range, an about figure, an at-most figure or an average. A figure from a seller is labelled anecdotal, and where measured and seller figures disagree the page states both.

Changed

  • The mould page moved to /troubleshooting/mould-in-culture/. The old address redirects.

Care cards, the compatibility explorer and accessibility fixes

Print a card for your shelf, and find which species suit an enclosure.

Added

  • Care cards print at 105 by 148 mm. A card holds only recorded values with their evidence and sources, and a QR code to the species page. The label maker lays out sheets for common container sizes on A4 and Letter.
  • The compatibility explorer ranks every species for an enclosure, with the reasons, the gaps and the claims behind each one. A value nobody has recorded counts as half credit, never as a fit or a miss.

Fixed

  • Citation numbers are underlined, so they no longer read as plain text beside the brackets.
  • The classification tree has a button beside each group that opens and closes it, and it works from a keyboard and with a screen reader. Without scripts the tree is an open list.
  • Nothing scrolls sideways at 320 pixels wide. Scientific names may break at the space on a narrow screen.

A free reference for springtails, where every statement shows its source and how far to trust it.

Added

  • 47 species, 53 hobby cultures, 56 trade names, 12 guides and 6 troubleshooting trees. Every statement carries at least one source and an evidence level. What the levels mean.
  • The identification key narrows a springtail down with the equipment you have. One answer is never a match, and the key says so when the honest answer is that it cannot tell.
  • Search understands what keepers type, slang included. It answers a direct question with the value the species page shows and its evidence level, and says so when nothing sourced exists.
  • Species pages show a drawing of the animal and a panel that sets it at its real size on your screen. You choose a reading level, units and a theme.

Spotted something wrong here or anywhere on the site? Send a message. The credits name the people whose messages led to a change. To follow the changes in a feed reader, use the Atom feed.