Extended Data Fig. 3: Folsomia candida springtails feed on Streptomyces coelicolor mycelium.

(a) Folsomia candida springtails feeding on sporulating Streptomyces coelicolor. The bacteria were grown as lawns on agar covered with cellophane membranes, and then scraped off and transferred to F. candida kept on a Petri dish lined with gypsum plaster. The photo shows the dark bacterial biomass visible inside the guts of the animals as well as faecal pellets covering the plaster. (b, c) Agar plugs with developed colonies of S. coelicolor strain M145 were placed in containers with autoclaved potting soil, either without springtails (b), or with 10 F. candida individuals (c). After 6 days of incubation, the colonies in soil without springtails remained intact, while the colonies in soil with springtails were consumed by grazing of the animals. Control experiments showed that the animals did not graze on uninoculated agarose plugs (not shown). Scale bars, 10 mm. Similar observations were made in three independent experiments. In addition to the grazing, the ability of springtails to disperse S. coelicolor was clearly reflected in the large number of microcolonies (seen as white spots in the photographs) developing throughout the microcosms containing F. candida individuals.