New Zealand’s giant springtails (Collembola: Holacanthella): now available in purple

Abstract

New Zealand has a proportionately high number of endemic invertebrates, of which the ‘giant’ Collembola of the genus Holacanthella Börner, 1906 are a particularly impressive yet understudied group. Members of this genus represent the largest springtail species on Earth, and are among the most visibly striking – possessing brightly coloured dorsal digitations in a range of yellow, red, orange and white pigmentation. Species of Holacanthella are known to have restricted spatial distributions and display significant within-species variation in colour and digitation development. Here, we present the first known observation of purple digitation colouring in Holacanthella, and discuss the finding in context of known morphological variation and taxonomic uncertainties in this genus.