Dicyrtomina ornata is a very common species found throughout England, Scotland and Wales but it has not been recorded from Ireland. It is an extremely attractive springtail covered in irregular patches of pigment. In Dicyrtomina ornata, there is a solid patch of dark pigment at the posterior end of the abdomen whereas in Dicyrtomina saundersi, this patch has a distinctive pattern (see Dicyrtomina saundersi page for photos). I am not entirely convinced (and neither was Lubbock) that Dicyrtomina ornata and Dicyrtomina saundersi are separate species although recent molecular evidence suggests that they are. Consequently, several of the literature records on the map for Dicyrtomina ornata represent Dicyrtomina saundersi.
     Members of the Dicyrtomidae are characterised by having a very short fourth antennal segment (Fig. 1). In species of
Dicyrtomina, the claw on the foot is wrapped in an outer membrane and the empodium is wide and bears a short filament that reaches just beyond the tip of the claw (Fig. 2). The inner and outer edges of the mucro are serrated (Fig. 3). The thick spines on the body are relatively short (Fig. 4).

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Fig. 1 (above): Tip of the antenna of Dicyrtomina ornata collected from Oxted, Woldingham in January 1957 by Peter Lawrence.

Fig. 2 (above): Foot of the third leg of the same specimen of Dicyrtomina ornata shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 (above): Tip of the furca of the same specimen of Dicyrtomina ornata shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 (above): Dorsal spines of the same specimen of Dicyrtomina ornata shown in Fig. 1.