Shloop 𓅃

A posable toy of the pterosaur Dearc sgiathanach, a rhamphorhynchid pterosaur with a long snout and exposed, conical teeth.

chibi plush toy of the dinosaur Sinosauopteryx, a feathered theropod dinosaur with reddish brown feathers and a banded tail.

also the toys brought are the best things ever I need the Sinosauopteryx plushie 🥺

Screen of a presentation titled “Women in Science: The Invisible Women and Their Dinosaurs” in a lecture hall

Whiteboard drawing of the dinosaur Sinosauropteryx, a small feathered theropod dinosaur with a banded tail

Awesome talk by none other than
@nataliajagielska.bsky.social ! I can hear her talk for ages (and especially about crazy people throughout history).

#bugsky

Perhaps even lesser known is that they come in blue. This is a specimen I got and it seems to be a much more uncommon aberration than purple individuals.

People keep telling me they're "not good enough to submit" - I say, we don't gatekeep skill levels.

Sure, I use the books to scout for artists to hire/forward projects to, but our goal is to *encourage people to celebrate nature*.

This is why I insist on having kid & amateur artists each season.

Women in Science – The Invisible Women and Their Dinosaurs About the Speaker: Dr. Natalia JAGIELSKA is a Polish-born doctor in palaeontology, award-winning artist, film and TV dinosaur consultant, and former museum collections officer. She is currently working at The Chinese University of Hong Kong as a postdoctoral researcher, focusing on studying skin and fur of pterosaurs (flying reptiles from the dinosaur times). Seats are limited, and will be available on first-come, first-served basis by online registration. Online Registration Enquiries: sfo@cuhk.edu.hk | 3943 0594 Date 30 Jan 2026 Time 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm Location LT3, Lady Shaw Building (LSB), CUHK

Join me for tour of dinosaur palaeoart from paleolithic cave art, eccentric Oxford homemaker to Nazi-fighting Polish women and wet vultures. History of dinosaur art, by women. A free talk delivered at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Details below.

Top view of black rhinoceros beetle with relatively small horns. It has a spoon-shaped cephalic horn and two prong-like thoracic horns facing forward. It has a purple sheen.

Side view of the same rhinoceros beetle, with a hornless female on the left. The purple sheen is better seen in this photo.

the Atlas beetle along with two other species belongs in the genus Chalcosoma, which means “bronze body”. This is a fitting name, considering they often have a bronze or metallic green sheen. But do you know they come in purple? I do, but I never expected to ever find one in the wild! #InverteFest

Top view of black rhinoceros beetle with relatively small horns. It has a spoon-shaped cephalic horn and two prong-like thoracic horns facing forward. It has a purple sheen.

Side view of the same rhinoceros beetle, with a hornless female on the left. The purple sheen is better seen in this photo.

the Atlas beetle along with two other species belongs in the genus Chalcosoma, which means “bronze body”. This is a fitting name, considering they often have a bronze or metallic green sheen. But do you know they come in purple? I do, but I never expected to ever find one in the wild! #InverteFest

A bright green katydid with wing buds. Her legs are spiny, has an ovipositor, and the pronotum is lined in white.

Front view of the katydid. It has a blocky, stout head.

Happy #invertefest! I was going to tell everyone how much I love this beautiful Pseudophyllus titan I got, unfortunately she refused to eat and passed away today 😞 that’s just how bug keeping goes, isn’t it?

visit the Numazu Deep Sea Aquarium if you’ll ever visit Shizuoka too! They have 5 coelacanth specimens and a very impressive roster of deep sea creatures too

A small giant isopod looking right at its dignified yet alien face

Blue jellyfish

The underside of a spider crab

A weird crab looking at the camera

Today I visited the Takeshima Aquarium in Gamagori, which specializes in deep sea animals. I saw giant isopods, spider crabs, deep sea octopus and all kinds of fascinating #invertebrates.

Rarely heard, less-seen, enjoy an ex-amplicant (note the girth of the forearm) the Oxapampa Poison Frog, Ameerega planipaleae & this one took me longer to find a photographic reference for than to paint & only one person had recorded the call at the time & was kind enough to share it for the book 🐸.

#inverts 🕷️

A small, hairy spider (tarantula) in a vial, submerged in alcohol.

The prolateral view of the spider’s chelicerae. It has a large fang, black serrations on the anterior side.

In the little speck that is Hong Kong lives a tarantula.

Well, not a very big one. Phlogiellus is a genus of tiny tarantulas which can be found even in urban environments. Members of the genus can only be identified by dissection and this specimen appears to be P. bogadeki, described in 2016.

A messy ink drawing of a robustly shaped weevil. It has club-like antennae and three thick black stripes on its pronotum.

#Invertober Day 4: Palm weevil (Rhycnhophorus)

schizomida are awesome you’re lucky

A tiny (2mm) brown scorpion-like bug (with no tail) on the side of my index finger

They’re quite hard to find… only time is when I found one under a longhorn beetle. You can try sifting leaf litter though they are more easily found this way

It doesn’t matter if one only buys captive bred, by engaging with this trade you also increase the demand for wild animals. This is because fresh bloodlines need to be introduced for a healthy captive population and they will keep coming.

So many reptiles are made endangered PRIMARILY because of the pet trade. Your inbred, contaminated animal isn’t fit for release either.

We also can’t guarantee the sustainability of collecting. There is little study done on the actual impact of collecting especially on big insects w low turnover.

A few things for those engaging in the wildlife trade but care about conservation to make peace with:

While exotic pet trade helps understanding the habits of animals , it doesn’t directly help conservation.

This is a rhetoric I’ve seen a lot of herp keepers buy, but it’s crazy cope.

Would love to see this genus in the wild one day, I thought seeing a dead one in a vial of leaf litter sent to me was already very cool!

Insect populations drop even without direct human interference, a new study finds Research published this month found that even in pristine, untouched areas, insect populations are still on the decline. Climate change is a likely culprit.

Pristine areas see insect decline. New research points to climate change as a primary factor.

#Insects #Climate #Environment

A male stag beetle with a black head. It has short, curved mandibles. Its pronotum and the centre of its elytra are blood red. It has an orange border on its elytra, and between the two colours is black.

The female stag beetle has the same pattern, but it has a smaller head.

Hello Bluesky.
Contrary to its name, i am typing this when Hong Kong is hit by a super typhoon.
Last Sunday, I got my hands on this gorgeous stag beetle (Odontolabis stevensi duivenbodei), endemic to Sangihe Island. I look forward to breeding them. #inverts

let me share a little story about a remarkable wasp that I encountered yesterday in our local deserts

I stumbled across her, and scrambled to get a few crappy photos .... but then realized that she had a burrow, perhaps a better photo op was possible ??

here she is at her burrow entrance.

FYI tying is unnecessary for Phalacrognathus. Usually reserved for much more powerful species such as large Dorcus, Hexarthrius, some Prosopocoilus.

Most leaf insects start of like this in their first instar, always in a different colour from the normal green or yellow 🧐

People often say that hummingbirds take the niche of insects, but few know that the closest actual analogue are paper wasps. I wont elaborate further.

Correct, at Tai Mo Shan Rd.

A pale green moth with long “tails” on each hindwing. It rests upside down on a tree.

Another of the same species of moth. In this photo you can see a red border on the anterior margin of its forewings, and its white body. It suffered some wear and tear, including a missing “tails” on the right hindwing. Its normally pink tail has faded. It rests on the ground.

Side view of the same moth, now on a grey fabric (my pants).

Tonight I saw 3 moon moths (Actias ningpoana) in a single walk. This is the third brood of the year, with the last one coming in October.
#invertefest