The lipid pattern of animals is influenced by species, life stage, environmental conditions and diet. We investigated the effects of food quality and starvation on the phospholipid (PLFA) and neutral lipid (NLFA) fatty acid pattern of the collembolan Protaphorura fimata. Collembolans were fed with two common soil fungi, Agrocybe gibberosa and Chaetomium globosum, of which the cellular lipid composition was analysed. A. gibberosa was grown on agar with different nitrogen contents, resulting in altered fatty acid patterns and C:N ratios, i.e. fungi of different food quality. Collembolans did not mirror the lipid composition of the fungal diet as the pattern of major NLFAs in P. fimata was vice versa. Presumably, altered food quality of fungi caused compensatory responses by the collembolans, thereby diminishing the fungal signal. In a further experiment P. fimata (previously maintained with C. globosum) was kept without food for up to 4 weeks. Starvation resulted in a decline in the total amount of NLFAs; however, it did not affect the fatty acid pattern, indicating that NLFAs were degraded indiscriminately. Generally, the PLFA profile of the collembolans changed only slightly due to variations in diet quality or starvation.