Image: Campodeidae sp. (11499938054)

Description: A dipluran of the Campodeidae family. Original description on Flickr: One on my 'really difficult to take photos of' list that I periodically have a go at and try to improve on my last attempt. These really are tricky as they run incredibly fast and shift direction all the time and at around 3mm big, that's a lot of body to get in focus. So this is the first decent shot I've taken of one. Just waiting for it to run in a straight line at the same time as being at such an angle that you can get a side shot has taken me 1000 shots and exactly a year. This was made even more difficult by me taking the photo at x8 to get that higher resolution. I took my last OK shots of a dipluran on the 23rd December 2012! This is a member of the Campodeidae, a mostly vegetarian kind of Diplura. This is worth viewing in LARGE to see the details of the curious lateral styliform appendages on the underside of the abdominal segments. These can also be found in Protura, another non-insect hexapod.
Title: Campodeidae sp. (11499938054)
Credit: Diplura/Two-pronged Bristletail (11499938054)
Author: Andy Murray
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0
License: CC BY-SA 2.0
License Link: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Attribution Required?: Yes