Navel Orangeworm vs Arctic Springtail

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Navel Orangeworm Arctic Springtail
Scientific Name Amyelois transitella Megaphorura arctica
Order Lepidoptera Collembola
Family Pyralidae Onychiuridae
Size 20-28 mm wingspan 1-2 mm
Habitat Deserts & Drylands Tundra & Arctic
Diet Omnivores Omnivores
Regions North America Svalbard, Arctic Canada, Greenland, northern Scandinavia
Conservation Not Evaluated Least Concern

Navel Orangeworm

The most damaging pest of almonds, walnuts, and pistachios in California. Larvae bore into nuts and contaminate them with frass and fungal spores.

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Did You Know?

It promotes aflatoxin contamination by introducing Aspergillus fungi into damaged nuts.

Arctic Springtail

A white, eyeless springtail that lives in soil and under stones in the High Arctic. It lacks a furcula and cannot jump. It survives extreme cold through cryoprotective dehydration, losing most of its body water before freezing.

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Did You Know?

This springtail can survive temperatures down to minus 30 degrees Celsius by dehydrating itself until it contains almost no free water.