TY - JOUR AU - Robin, Ninon AU - D’Haese, Cyrille AU - Barden, Phillip PY - 2019 DA - 2019/11/21 TI - Fossil amber reveals springtails’ longstanding dispersal by social insects JO - BMC Evolutionary Biology SP - 213 VL - 19 IS - 1 AB - Dispersal is essential for terrestrial organisms living in disjunct habitats and constitutes a significant challenge for the evolution of wingless taxa. Springtails (Collembola), the sister-group of all insects (with Diplura), are reported since the Lower Devonian and are thought to have originally been subterranean. The order Symphypleona is reported since the early Cretaceous with genera distributed on every continent. This distribution implies an ability to disperse over oceans, however symphypleonan Collembola have never been reported in marine water contrary to other springtail orders. Despite being highly widespread, modern springtails are rarely reported in any kind of biotic association. Interestingly, the fossil record has provided occasional occurrences of Symphypleona attached by the antennae onto the bodies of larger arthropods. SN - 1471-2148 UR - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-019-1529-6 DO - 10.1186/s12862-019-1529-6 ID - Robin2019 ER -