The eggs are very difficult to find in the field because they are covered by sticky excreta containing soil that the female had swallowed.

Their resistance to both drought and cold has enabled the species to survive introduction from cool, moist conditions of Northern Europe, to Australasia and Southern Africa.

In conditions of drought, they simply enter a state of aestivation in the form of diapause in which embryonic development is delayed.

The female sheds her skin nine times, but achieves sexual maturity in the sixth instar, that is, after the fifth ecdysis.

It feeds mainly on the surface cells of leaves, and when it occurs in especially high densities, it causes enough damage to be regarded as an agricultural pest.

In this respect, it is unusual among Collembola, because very few members of the suborder do significant harm and some actually are mildly beneficial, either as predators[citation needed] or in recycling detritus.

For instance, fungal infections have been documented as killing the springtails, though they are not seen as major control agents.