Collecting Diplurans

[Abdulkarim Elnaas]

Does anyone know where Diplurans tend to hide? Do they live in the soil or just in litter? Does anyone have a good method for collecting them? I have probably gone through over a hundred Collembolans and yet I've only ever found one Dipluran in my soil samples. Lithobiomorph centipedes can live up to 5 years and are top predators in their little worlds but I've run into many of them. And only one Dipluran. Clearly I'm doing something wrong? Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Abdulkarim Elnaas]

I found one! I was collecting some soil in a container after it had snowed for a few days in the hopes there would be some arthropod eggs that might hatch after warming up in my room. I collected from under a rotting piece of wood in a previously vibrant spot (springtails, isopods, mites). The soil was pretty dead except for maybe a few millipedes. I took my containers of soil home and later on I found the Dipluran at the surface. I have it in a small circular container with moist soil that I collected. It crawled to the bottom of the container and stayed there. I probably need a few more to start a colony, unless this one is gravid or something.

 

[pannaking22]

That's a really cool find. I guess the key would be figuring out what sort of microhabitat they prefer. Maybe more common in leaf litter or near moss or something along that line. Heck, there may even be more in that rotting chunk of wood if you bring it inside and check it over.

 

[richard22]

I found some in leaf litter, maybe deeper in the soil. I think they’ll end up eating mites, springtails, or other small arthropods. I found several using a sieve stack scanning a bunch of soil, but they tend to be rare and a good sieve to search for scanning enough soil and finding more than just a couple of them is easily 100-200USD$. Some of the larger species are much more interesting, but even rarer, forcepstails are what they’re called. You could try your luck taking a chunk of soil from an area where you found one after a quick look and get give it an environment similar to where it was, mites and all.

 

[Abdulkarim Elnaas]

I was led to believe that only forcepstails were carnivores and the fine tailed Campodeidae (like the one I got) probably only eat fungus and other things like that. Do you think they might take nematodes? I might give that a shot. I culture microworms for my fish.

 

[richard22]

I was led to believe that only forcepstails were carnivores and the fine tailed Campodeidae (like the one I got) probably only eat fungus and other things like that. Do you think they might take nematodes? I might give that a shot. I culture microworms for my fish.

This science site says they can fall prey to them, so probably yes. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982213009858

They seem to be generalist, they’ll eat dead plant or animal material, fungus, and other small organisms. They’re like earwigs basically. This site gives good information: https://www.chaosofdelight.org/diplura

 

[Abdulkarim Elnaas]

I collected five or so rotting logs (as well as soil) from the area where I collected the dipluran and placed them into a shallow, roughly 13 gallon container. I have some saran wrap on top to hold the moisture and to prevent pupating flies from getting out easily. Imma let that incubate for a week or so. I can already see springtails and baby millipedes on the logs. Maybe not the most efficient method, but I think I'm more liable to make some neat discoveries this way.

 

[Abdulkarim Elnaas]

Is this not the coolest thing ever? Man...I wish it wasn't only a New Zealand species.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/1538716

 

[Hisserdude]

Diplurans are awesome, I collected some fine tailed ones several years ago, found them under rocks and mulch next to a hotel... Unfortunately they are VERY fragile, and I believe mine either dried out a bit too much, or some aspect of their care was simply improper... I tried setting them up with an organically rich substrate and offered cat food from time to time. This was way back in 2014, so my memory is a bit fuzzy on the matter TBH, so I'm not sure exactly what happened to them, just that they didn't last long for me, (again, this was 2014, I was but a fledgling hobbyist... ).

Is this not the coolest thing ever? Man...I wish it wasn't only a New Zealand species.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/1538716

H O L Y C R A P !!!! I NEED those to be established in the hobby YESTERDAY!!! :wideyed: