text: what are the thousands of tiny black bug-like creatures that appear on the cement every time it rains? weird question maybe, but every time it rains, and i'm sitting at my back door step having a smoke, there are thousands of tiny 2-3mm black bug thingies all over the ground! they jump a lot, they look busy. they freak me out cos i have never seen anything like it before (or ever looked at the ground to notice them)! and no, i'm not a drug user lmao (except for cigarettes)! and no they can't be fleas, they're tooooooo tiny! definitely not ants either. i hope someone has some idea - thanks! (btw, i had no idea what category to put this question in)! these sound like springtails, an order called collembola. not insects but within a group of terrestrial invertebrates called hexapods. a book with a key to the orders of terrestrial invertebrates would help in placing this groups lineage (phylogeny: how animals fit on the family tree). springtails hang out in the soil feeding on decaying stuff.  they probably come out during the rain because the conditions are ideal to breed or they dehydrate less.....many terrestrial invertebrates dehydrate easily and need moisture to get out and about. cheers.