Determining age distributions of insect is required for many basic ecological studies. Most of insect developmental studies, the head capsule width and other developmental traits have been widely used to distinguish the instars. Unlike to other insect species, collembolan continues to molt after they reach sexual maturity. So these traits sometimes make it difficult to conduct developmental studies. Model animal used in this study was Paranura rosea a native collembolan speciese. To determine the age groups of P. rosea, we periodically (1week) made digital images of P. rosea (over 100 different images) under the magnifier (DIMIS-M) for consecutive 20 week. And then the head capsule width and the surface area of P. rosea were analyzed using a image software (ImageJ). In this test the head capsule widths and surface area were set as developmental parameters. Both two developmental parameters showed time-dependent increase patterns. And they gave good agreements between predicted developmental parameters and observed parameters (r2=0.83 and 0.71). Based on the reproducibility of juveniles and statistical mean separation tests (tukey's test), both two developmental parameters could be divided into 3 age groups. The information given this study will be used as a basis for understanding the population dynamics and other ecological research.

• Nan-Hee Yang(Department of Environmental Science and Ecological Engineering, Korea University)
• Jino Son(Department of Environmental Science and Ecological Engineering, Korea University)
• Kijong Cho(Department of Environmental Science and Ecological Engineering, Korea University)