BEHOLD! One of Earth's greatest lineages of life: the lil wiggle arm guys, Meteora. These single-celled critters, originally found in deep-sea sediments, are SO DIFFERENT from other lifeforms on Earth that they're likely in their own kingdom (as in, the Animal Kingdom, the Plant Kingdom etc). 🧪🌿

ミドリトビムシと思うやつが落ち葉の表面をカリカリと食べておられるなと撮っていたら、おや？っと右側にちびっ子ダニが… ちょこちょこ歩いていてとても良い。トビムシが巨大な存在に見える大きさ(おそらく0.2mmくらい) 頑張って生きておられる。

worm-children dream within their pods, awaiting the first sweet mouthful of soil

I see #Crustmas seems to be a thing, and people are sharing Ostracod photos!? I don't need an excuse to share photos of my Favourite crustacean! Or better yet, here's a video! #BugSky #invert #PondLife

Last weekend I got to see NZ velvet worms in their native forest habitat. These animals are so bizarre, taxonomists gave them their very own Phylum, next to tardigrades - that's insane! This Ooperipatellus sp. is an egg-laying genus, but there's another here that gives live birth! Mind. Blown. 🧪

it's everyone's favorite animal, pauropod you love pauropod

You know what's weird? A whole lot of butterflies look like they only have four legs, because their front pair is all small and folded up against their body. Some don't have feet, some have fuzz, some taste stuff with them. Weird little legs!

did you know millipedes produce silk? those that do, like this species in the order Chordeumatida, use it to make secure shelters for molting.

look at these little things!! who knew that the weedy vines and little saplings all over hid these gems. this is just two nights’ looking at leaves for about an hour total, got me nine species

Don't have an invertebrate artwork to post for #InverteFest? I got you covered. I teamed up with multiple experts to create guides to comprehend various invertebrate anatomy. Links to the full posts in the reply below.

Hey, wanna see SOMETHING NOBODY HAS EVER SEEN BEFORE? Here's a giant springtail with PURPLE spines! I recently discovered a number of these amazingly coloured Holacanthella (they're normally red/orange or yellow). A new species? Maybe! 🧪 Observation online soon: weta.ento.org.nz/index.php/we...

out here finding the weirdest little guys I never knew existed. what even is a leptostracan or a tanaid

The Virginia Rail’s greatest predators are hawks and bowling balls

Do you love Springtail Saturday, but feel it's always over too soon? Dry your eyes, my friend. They said it couldn't be done. They said that dedicating more than one day a week to springtails was impossible, merely the arrogant pipe-dream of a madman. But, guess what? It's #SpringtailSunday 🧪

these are Elpidium, ostracods (seed shrimp!) which only live in the water that collects between the leaves of bromeliad plants. that's it. to reach new plants, they stick themselves onto other animals, including frogs, and ride around passively.

There's a water flea called Ilyocryptus which is always covered in lint and dirt. I looked up the etymology of the name and it translates literally into "dirt secret". Here is my beautiful son Dirt Secret

one of my very favorite arthropod appendages, the house centipede’s legs. the hypersegmented tarsi of these limbs act like tentacles, wrapping firmly around the limbs of prey, immobilizing them a safe distance from the centipede’s body while its venom takes effect

I got a question off site asking how big this little friend was. I just realized the crop doesn't show how absolutely tiny it was. 3rd photo is uncropped straight from my camera, it was basically the smallest thing my lens could capture.

It's a bummer I can't upload videos directly on here yet so please enjoy some still images of a fairy shrimp very closely and intentionally examining a snail

What do you do when you REALLY wanted antennae, but life hands you an arachnid body plan? You stretch those front legs of course! Linopodes mites have front legs up to SIX TIMES their body length, which they use to sense their environment & find fungi to eat. 🧪 #Macrophotography #SoilBiodiversity

The good thing about being a macrophotographer and soil ecologist, is that I can still find beauty in unusual places - such as when SPIDER MITES are ravaging my houseplants. Watching these little Tetranychid nightmares traversing their tiny silk tightropes between leaves was oddly entertaining!🧪

It's #SpringtailSunday! Today I saw this pile of adorability - a group of bright pinkie-purple springtails. Species of Poduromorpha such as these are known to occasionally 'swarm', sometimes on the surface of water and even on snow! They're totally harmless and are important decomposers in soil.🧪

Mate choice. Another older comic.

some stunning images from the James Webb telescope's first 2 years selected by BBC News: www.bbc.co.uk/news/resourc...

*VELVET WORM CHECKPOINT* You have reached a scrolling checkpoint. I give you permission to stop, breathe, and simply enjoy how wonderful velvet worms are. Forget about the world's problems for a moment, and just look at those tiny little feet! There's still beauty in the world. Okay, off you go.

Zel Cariad: 'Creatures' online art exhibition : December 2023 The Signifier : six : shot : gallery medium.com/the-signifie...

Bucephalus - Alexander the Great's mythical carnivorous three-horned horse! Learn more here: zelcariad.blogspot.com/2023/11/buce...

Chalkydri are twelve-winged singing angelic croco-lions! You can read more here: zelcariad.blogspot.com/2023/09/chal...

Hello! I am an illustrator interested in creatures, both real and mythical