English: Two juvenile Sminthurides springtails in courtship found at the Brtistol Botanical Gardens, Bristol, England, United Kingdom. Most likely Sminthurides aquaticus sensu Shaw 2013 and Sminthurides bifidus sensu Janssens 2013

Original description on Flickr:

Sminthurides aquaticus sensu Shaw 2013 + tentatively Sminthurides bifidus sensu Janssens 2013 juvenile courtship

Well, this was a nice find! It looks like Sminthurides bifidus is alive and well, and living in England, making this another new UK species...

So, I was at Bristol Botanic gardens the other day and in an idle moment, checked the pond. And it was covered with these chaps. Very pleased. They're definitely a lot like the species I found on my pond last year- same size, same base colour, same ocelli. But the differences are interesting too. Blue pigment instead of violet, and sometimes a lot of it, especially on the dorsal area. Also a recurring thing are three spots on each side which my ones don't have. Interesting! All I need to do now is to bag me some specimens for Peter Shaw and await results!

I only IDd them through Josh's/Mr. Phidippus's photos, (I could still be wrong) so thanks Josh. It'll be interesting to see if these look to him like the same ones he photographed. www.flickr.com/photos/53779206@N06/7168207752/

It's interesting to note that I had the same experience with flash artefacts as Josh did, (note the bluey white effect on the springtails in some of the photos) due to the waxy substance these ones wipe on so liberally...