Wanderlust World Wanderlust World A detritivore that lives in the Arctic is the Arctic springtail (Onychiurus arcticus), one of many species native to the North Pole as well as Northern Canada, Northern Europe, Alaska, Northern Russia, Northern Siberia, Northern Greenland, Svalbard, Iceland, Scandinavia, Finland, and Northern Mongolia.
They live under the snow and feed on moss, algae growing on moss, organic materials, dead lichens, dead leaves/vegetation, carcasses, dead insects, dead fungi, feces, and other decaying matter.
The species was first observed in Greenland and first described by entomologist Jean Nicolas Nicolet in 1842.