We’ve got fleas!

(Snow fleas that is)

While walking through a Sullivan County forest recently, I saw some fine black dust on the snow, especially in depressions like deer tracks, etc. A closer look revealed not dust, but thousands of tiny insects, about 1/16th of an inch long, crawling and sometimes hopping on the snow with apparent immunity to the cold and snow. I had just encountered a bunch of snow fleas.

The snow flea (Achorutes nivicola) is not related to the fleas that bite and become an unwelcome guest of your dog or cat, but is a member of the springtail family. The “springtail” name comes from the fact that when a snow-flea wants to hop, it releases spring loaded “tails” under the abdomen (called furcula) and catapults itself to another location. They wind up in tracks and depressions because it is hard for them to climb out.

Snow fleas eat leaf litter and other plant matter and are harmless to man or animal. They are actually around all year, but are prominent in the winter when they appear on top of the snow on warmer winter days.