insects in orchid media

[SusanLee]

Hello senior members. I need help identifying some insects I am finding in my orchids. They are very small (I use a loupe to magnify them), very dark, appear to have ridges on their bodies and have small antenna on their heads. I cannot find anything that looks like them. Help! Thank you so much

[JDT]

Have no clue without pictures!

[Chris in Hamilton]

Pictures would be best but some hints might help. Do they jump, fly or crawl? Are they fast or slow, that kind of thing. When you blow on them lightly do they disappear?

[SusanLee]

agreed, pics would be good but they are so small I don't think I could get a good picture. They crawl, moderately slowly. wave their heads around with moving antenna. never tried blowing on them. They flush out when I water, hundreds of them! again, they are very dark, have ridges on their bodies and little antennas on the front.

---------- Post Merged at 02:44 PM ----------

agreed, pics would be good but they are so small (microscopic) a picture would be almost impossible to take.

[Chris in Hamilton]

You've eliminated thrips right?

[sciencegal]

You are probably seeing the larvae of something. Thrips larvae are light colored. Try searching on larvae and see if anything looks similar
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[SusanLee]

don't think they are thrips as those are light colored. These guys are very dark, they look like microscopic slugs except their bodies have ridges on them

[sciencegal]

Sounds like larvae of an insect or beetle. Could be flea beetle larvae. Flea beetles are really tiny and common.
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[cakedaddy]

Are you talking dorsal ridge? I would guess not.
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[PaphMadMan]

I would suspect springtails from the description, even if you haven't seen them jump.