A photography of a velvet worm crawling towards the camera, on a moss-covered trunk. The animal is worm-like, with many soft pairs of legs and a pair of long, segmented antennae. All over the animal's body, there are hundreds of multi-coloured lumps, which resemble dress sequins.

I appreciate all the love for my previous post, so, here's a little more velvet worm / Peripatus cuteness to start your weekend off right!

Beneath that adorable little eye, you can see the stumpy glue cannon, which it uses to subdue prey!

#Macrophotography #TheWorldBeneathOurFeet 🧪

A photography of a velvet worm crawling on a moss-covered trunk. The animal is worm-like, with many soft pairs of legs and a pair of long, segmented antennae. All over the animal's body, there are hundreds of multi-coloured lumps, which resemble dress sequins.

I recently discovered this incredible creature while on a night walk in the NZ bush. Known as a 'Velvet Worms', this adorable predator immobilises prey with organic glue fired from turrets on its head!

Oh... and they are basically unchanged in about 400 million years!

#TheWorldBeneathOurFeet 🧪

A photo of a computer monitor with the title page of a book, entitled 'the world beneath our feet' by Frank Ashwood. In front of the monitor is my hand, holding a mug with images of many hard-bodied oribatid mites on it.

Today is my final day of book writing, then it's off for copyediting and out of my hands!

It's been a true labour of love, and I'm feeling bittersweet. How better to cross the finish line than with coffee in this mite-y good mug by @fminifera.bsky.social

#SoilBiodiversity #TheWorldBeneathOurFeet 🧪

A photograph of a flat, soft-bodied springtail, looking face-on towards the camera as it crawls on the surface of some decaying wood.

There are few soil animals as adorable as the 'podgy' springtails!

This Platunurida sp. is a cousin of the famous 'giant' springtails in New Zealand. Instead of colourful spines, it has a flattened body, enabling it to squeeze into cracks in decaying logs where it lives.

#TheWorldBeneathOurFeet 🧪📸

"Biodiversity below ground is neither visible nor very cute" - but it sure is important! #TheWorldBeneathOurFeet

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