Soil ecology walk #8
The soil air. Find out why the soil atmosphere is quite different from the air we breathe...
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Join me on soil ecology walk #7 about soil water
(Pay no attention to the ocean behind me, that's where some of that soil water ends up)
Excuse the radio silence from me lately, it's been a very intense University teaching semester.
On the plus side, I've done LOADS of entomology-related lecturing, which has been great fun! Naturally, I've squeezed in plenty of soil invertebrate content to my lectures, such as this bizarre, not-quite-an-insect, Proturan!
Protura are six-legged, wingless, eyeless and lack pigmentation and antennae. Instead, they raise their front pair of legs forwards as they move, which are covered in sensory hairs. This gives them the slightly comical appearance of a villain in Scooby-Do trying to sneak up menacingly behind someone!
Now Bug of the Year is over, normal service can resume!
Here's an incredibly feathery velvet mite (Chyzeriidae) from New Zealand. These active predators wander the forest floor, looking for springtails to ambush and drink dry using their piercing mouthparts! Beautiful but deadly.
Introducing New Zealand's latest Bug of the Year- the magnificent Ngāokeoke or Velvet Worm!
These amazing, ancient creatures were around long before the dinosaurs, and are taxonomically considered close relatives of Arthropods and Tardigrades. They have a unique method pf prey capture - using a pair of glue-gun organs on their heads to immobilise prey with a shower of sticky glue.
Aotearoa has two genera of velvet worms: one lays eggs (Ooperipatellus, 1st photo) and the other gives live birth (Peripatoides, 2nd). Oh, and to mate, males deposit sperm onto the skin of their partner, which then burrow through the female's skin and migrate throughout their blood to be stored in special uterine tubes until needed!
Truly remarkable creatures and well-deserving of their new title!
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!
https://www.bugoftheyear.ento.org.nz/vote-here-2025/
Here's the announcement:
IF WE WIN, I WILL GET A GIANT SPRINGTAIL TATTOO!!
*DOOMSCROLLING CHECKPOINT*
Okay just stop. Breathe. Take your mind off the rapid collapse of US Democracy for just a few moments.
I'll help you. Here's some baby giant springtails, aren't they cute?
They don't understand human politics, they just eat fungi and logs and go to sleep. That must be nice for them.
Okay, off you go. Come back if you need to.
Soil ecology walk #2 is online.
Join me on this short stroll through a snow-covered Berlin, when I explain the difference between necromass and biomass and why this is important.
We're halfway through the Bug of the Year '25 contest, and the Giant Springtail is still in the lead! BUT there's still four weeks of voting left, so get on it!
Vote here if you haven't already, and please share with your friends and family: https://www.bugoftheyear.ento.org.nz/vote-here-2025/
Let's get these majestic little giants the public attention they deserve, and the conservation protection they need!
I went out with my camera today for the first time in ages, and (totally non-creepily) watched this cute little sproinglet explore a miniature slime mold forest on a log.
I feel very lucky to get to share so many wonderful, hidden little worlds and creatures through my macrophotography, and eventually through a popular science book I'm currently writing!
A short break from #BugoftheYear content to share with you the delight that is Pauropods!
These tiny relatives of millipedes possess unique branching 'biramous' antennae, and feed on fungi and organic matter. They’re found in leaf litter, soil, and under stones and logs - but at <2 mm length you’ll struggle to spot them!
Sup dawg, I heard you like springtails. So I put a springtail on your springtail so you can look at a springtail while looking at a springtail.
Don't let the competition walk all over giant springtails like this cheeky blighter, vote today: https://bugoftheyear.ento.org.nz/2025-bug-of-the-year-nominees/giant-springtail/
Today I found this impressive oribatid mite in some leaf litter.
Oribatida are masters of self-protection: they've evolved protective armour flaps, defensive chemicals, and some even wear their old moults on their back like shields. But this Neotrichozetes spinulosa has said 'yeah nah' to all that and instead opted to become a sentient pincushion!
*Whispers* Hey, wanna see a cool millipede?
This is a 'pincushion' millipede (Polyxenida), a soft-bodied order that lack the chemical defences and hard exoskeleton of other millipedes. Instead they rely on tufts of detachable bristles to deter predators, by jamming their attacker's limbs and mouthparts!
REJOICE, FOR THE SEASON IS NEARLY UPON US!
Nope, not Christmas... but the New Zealand Bug of the Year contest '25, of course!
Voting opens on Jan 1st, and I'm going to need all of your votes to win giant springtails the epic victory they deserve. Stand by for further instructions, and some exciting incentives to lend them your vote!
More info, including an only slightly awful poem I wrote about them, here: https://bugoftheyear.ento.org.nz/2025-bug-of-the-year-nominees/giant-springtail/
Last field work day for 2024 
Snowy, not too cold but very nice view over the #LTSER area Matschertal/Val Mazia.
Replaced a #SoilTemp logger at 2500m that was destroyed by cows...
No metal cage resists a cow's rage 
Further, checked on of #EuracResearch|s #AlpEnv meteo station at 2400m.
Did you know that New Zealand and other land masses in the south-west Pacific are home to LEAF-VEINED SLUGS?!
Unlike their omnivorous European relatives, these unique leaf-mimicking slugs eat only fungi. They breathe mainly through the skin of the back, which is kept moist by secretions passing along the many grooves.
What amazing creatures!
Since you all really like Onychophora, here's a Peripatoides - another of NZ's beautiful endemic velvet worms.
Unlike the previous post, these little critters give live birth, but that's not the strangest thing about their reproduction. During mating, males deposit sperm packages anywhere onto the skin of the female, which then DISSOLVE HOLES in her skin and travel throughout her body. This process has a name as unromantic as the act itself: 'dermal-haemocoelic sperm transfer'.
And they say romance is dead.
Last weekend I got to see NZ velvet worms in their native forest habitat. These animals are so bizarre, taxonomists have given them their very own Phylum, alongside tardigrades and ALL arthropods - that's insane!
This Ooperipatellus is an egg-laying species, but there's another genus here in Aotearoa that gives live birth!
Mind. Blown.
