Folsomia penicula is widespread and moderately common. It is whitish spotted with black, has 2+2 ocelli (Fig. 1) and reaches a maximum length of 1.7 mm. The body setae are long; the ratio of the length of the longest setae at the tip of the abdomen/length of mucro is between 4.0 and 5.0. The manubrium has 4+4 (rarely 4+3) apical ventral (anterior) setae with 3+3 in a transverse row and 1+1 above (Fig. 2). The dens has 13-20 ventral (anterior) setae and 4 or 5 dorsal (posterior) setae. The PAO is narrow and is longer than the width of ant1 (Fig. 1). The ocelli may be difficult to resolve in cleared specimens (especially the posterior pair) and care should be taken not to confuse Folsomia penicula with the blind Folsomia spinosa.

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Fig. 1 (above): Post-antennal organ (PAO) and ocelli of Folsomia penicula collected from Harpenden in December 1951 by D.H. Murphy. Ant, anterior; Post, posterior.

Fig. 2 (left): Manubrium (ma) and dens (d) of Folsomia penicula collected from Whickham in August 1940 by Bagnall. The manubrium has 4+4 apical ventral (anterior) setae (*) with 3+3 in a transverse row and 1+1 above (the farthest set are out of the plane of focus).