Hugely excited for our work on the Nullarbor Caves to be featured on the ever excellent First Dog on the Moon. Oh yeah... www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Just back from surveys of #caves of the Nullarbor, Western Australia, land of the Mirning People. 🖤 amazing caves 🕷️ amazing cave #invertebrates ✨ hugely exciting finds The best start to my ARC Industry Fellowship. 👀 Watch. This. Space 👀 #biodiversity #conservation #ozinverts 📸 Dr Steve Milner

A brief peak at my home for the last three weeks. Surveying cave-adapted invertebrates of the beautiful and rugged caves of the Nullarbor plain, Western Australia. Some REALLY exciting finds. Stand by for updates #caves #invertebrates #troglobites #spiders #biodiversity

Sand grains as big as her head ❤️

It's officially spring up here because there are tiny Metaphycus nugget wasps in the savannah grasses again and I am happy 🥹 #EmotionalSupportWasps

Worm-like creature with ‘dark secret’ wins New Zealand bug of the year

Scientists first collected a pig butt worm from the dark ocean depths near Monterey, California. The size of marbles, pigbutts are a near complete mystery. Officially described in 2007, scientists aren’t even sure if the pigbutt form is an adult, or just a very very awkward adolescent stage.

Invertebrate species of the year, for the WHOLE world 🌍 … I know which species I’d choose. It has the name, it has the looks, it has the on-the-brink-of-extinction need for awareness… (Come on little #kangarooIslandAssassinSpider 🕷️💪)

This is another very cool invertebrate #biodiversity #insects

Anthony Davis spood (Mr Angry UniBrow)

🚨BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!🚨 I know everything is a lot right now, but this is the LAST WEEK of Bug of the Year, and team velvet worm are hot on our heels! Please VOTE NOW to make Giant Springtails victorious! bugoftheyear.ento.org.nz/vote-here-20... IF WE WIN, I WILL GET A GIANT SPRINGTAIL TATTOO!!

welcome to the world new spider genus Siskiyu. you've been lurking in the dark, magical woods of far northern California for millenia. Now the humans have finally gotten around to telling your story, at least in part this research was funded by the NSF OA here zookeys.pensoft.net/article/1402...

One more for the Year of the Snake, plus #TBT. It's one of my favorite photos I've ever taken, from ten years ago in Borneo, a gorgeous little snake called an eight-striped kukri (Oligodon octolineatus). I have a large print of it on my home office wall and it makes me happy to see every day. 🐙 📷 🐍

One more from my Borneo archives, because frankly, living in the past seems like a good idea right now. See the grasshopper? Look for the "holes" in the leaf - they're actually solid but transparent exoskeleton. I've shared this before elsewhere, but I don't think here. Even if, worth a re-post. 🐙🌿📷

The Grampians National Park is an important area for biodiversity. And it is burning. Many species have been impacted, but some species have had their whole know range burnt. The Grampians Assassin Spider, Zephyrarchaea grayi is one of these. Extinct? Possibly. #biodiversity #arachnids #fire

When you’re willing to move slowly through the world, you’ll find amazing things. I call this Birth of an Assassin. #bugsky

Unknown to me, a school student chose to write a poem on one of the species that I have fought to conserve. Convincing people that spiders are worthy of conservation often feels an uphill battle. This feels a little bit like a win 🥹💙 #australia #arachnids #biodiversity #poetry

Little bug. Big munch.

Opilioacarida! Mites that kind of look like Opiliones (hence the name). Found all over tropical and subtropical habitats worldwide, poorly studied. These were the first I've ever seen alive! From south of La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico. This is Neocarus bajacalifornicus.

The beauty of spider webs and water droplets

Do you need a New Year’s resolution that’s quick, free, easy to achieve and makes a difference? Then I’ve got one for you! Vote for Holacanthella in the Bug of the Year contest! You can vote from anywhere in the world, just follow this link! 🧪 #Invertebrate bugoftheyear.ento.org.nz/vote-here-20...

Prokoenenia wheeleri, a micro-whipscorpion in the rarely seen arachnid order Palpigradi. Travis County, Texas #nature #photography #arachnids #invertebrates

Seems we have enough Australian Entomology / other insect people to start a starter pack. Who have I missed? go.bsky.app/8d9RtMC

@NatGeo just published an article about mound-building Formica wood ants, featuring a series of spectacular photographs by Ingo Arndt: www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/arti... Here is Ingo’s winning wood ant photo from @NHM_WPY last year:

He's right, you know. Let's make Giant Springtails NZ's bug of the year, it only takes a moment to vote: bugoftheyear.ento.org.nz/vote-here-20... #Invertebrate #TeamGiantSpringtail 🧪

Hey all, I made a Bug Friends starter pack a while ago and have added a few accounts since then. If you enjoy insects, spiders, and other arthropods then this is a nice list for you. go.bsky.app/DCu5DxX

The galah package 📦 lets you use R to download images from Living Atlases around the world! 1. Choose an atlas with `galah_config(atlas = )` galah.ala.org.au/R/articles/q... 2. Download images with `collect_media()` galah.ala.org.au/R/articles/d... #rstats 🌏🐦🦋🐛🌱 (cc @rowdynerd.bsky.social)

📣 New preprint! We reconstructed the cave cricket family tree and found the Australian biota have not 1, but >5 independent evolutionary origins. 🇦🇺 is at the centre of a radiation in the S. Hemisphere that began in the Lower Cretaceous ~119 million years ago. 1/ #bugsky Paper: tinyurl.com/bddev8kn

Now, I totally don't have favourites...but if I did this species would come close. Feared extinct after fire burnt all of its known range in 2019. Finding this girl during post-fire surveys in an unburnt area of vegetation was like magic. Kangaroo Island Assassin Spider, Zephyrarchaea austini 🌏🧪

While deaths and destruction are mounting and thousands flee inferno in LA's devastation, the President-Elect has used the catastrophe to spread misinformation, offer false solutions, and disrespect the suffering of people and the hard work of first responders. Here are 6 facts you should know:

We don’t have to choose this fate. But I fear we will.

“From what I’m seeing, you are not really de-extincting anything. You are creating something else.” (Dr. Clare Palmer, Texas A&M) Efforts focus on vertebrates, which are ecosystems to many other creatures. Many of those creatures went extinct with their ecosystem. 🧪 🌎 e360.yale.edu/features/de-...

ABC, NBC & CBS dedicated about 16 minutes of airtime last night to the California wildfires without once mentioning climate change. Since the news failed do it's job, here's a short summary of the role of climate change and wildfire risk: www.noaa.gov/noaa-wildfir...

Did you know we're hiring? We're looking for conservation biologists with expertise in plants and fungi. To apply for the Plant Conservation Coordinator job, click here: bit.ly/PlantCoordin... 🌱 To apply for the Fungus Conservation Coordinator job, click here: bit.ly/FungusCoordi... 🍄

So, it’s about time everyone got behind the bug of the year 2025 contest as Holacanthella is nominated as one of the ‘bugs’ and to see a springtail winning would be beyond awesome. So please please please follow this link for more info… www.frankashwood.com/boty2025

The absolute cuteness of Collembola. Fascinating little important things. Brilliantly photographed. 🌏

Just throwing this old poem I wrote out to @bsky.app My Daughter's Earth Warning: uses repeated profanity to convey a sense of futility and exasperation 🌏🖋️🧪

With our recent estimations of an exceptionally high extinction rate for Australia’s invertebrates since European arrival (>9,000 species, with 1-3 species lost per week), the evidence for a mass extinction event is only strengthened 🌍🧪

Quote with a favourite cover I saw her play this live 20 or so years ago, and I can still feel the ghost of the shivers that ran down my spine. m.youtube.com/watch?v=1nnh...

Species concepts in conservation biology — some thoughts derived from our 2023 paper advocating a retrospective reproductive community concept. waynemaddison.wordpress.com/2024/12/28/s... #conservationbiology #evolbio #philbio #philsci #hpbio #SpeciesSaturday @jeannettewhitton.bsky.social

Early morning reflections. Quiet, broken only by the cry of a lone bird, protesting my presence. The smell of salt water and seaweed.

Check out those spiracles and tracheae! Brazilian Skipper caterpillar here to show us how insects breathe... Alachua County, Florida, USA

Wanna learn more about earthworms? (we all know the answer is YES). Then have a look here. All the wormy goodness.

Always a pleasure to speak about #invertebrate #conservation and raise awareness of the importance of these animals, the threats they are facing and what we can all do to help (even with my croaky post-Covid voice 🐸🐸) 🐝🐌🐞🪱🦋🕸️🪲🪰🪳🦟

I was happier to see this giant Narceus millipede in hill country yesterday than it was to see me. It curled into this defensive spiral and just sat there. Made a nice photo, though. With bonus mites, if you look closely.

Just a dog with a superhero alter ego ⚡️

Similarly in Australia, iNaturalist is an excellent resource for collecting #biodiversity information for many species. ...But, a lot of groups cannot be identified to species from a photo, especially by non-experts (and yet identifications are often put on them). Proceed with caution indeed.

Here’s a spider... This rare and enigmatic beauty of a #spider is adapted to life in a #cave: no eyes, long legs. Most species of the genus are only known from bits of dead spider. Seeing this 🕷️ in life, in its cave, was a career highlight 🌍🧪 #arachnid #biodiversity #conservation 📸 Steve Milner

Scientists say more than 9,000 non-marine invertebrate species have gone extinct in Australia since Europeans arrived in 1788.