Lmst

#BugoftheYear2025

We're all on tenterhooks waiting for the results to be announced tomorrow for the NZ Bug of the Year competition!

Here's a few of my favourite contenders. Now voting is over I'll admit I have been quietly rooting for the velvet worm too - they're amazing animals, almost as great as giant springtails!

Whatever happens, thanks so much everyone for your support and patience with my endless vote soliciting on here.

Good luck tomorrow #TeamGiantSpringtail! Fingers crossed!

#Entomology #BugoftheYear2025 #SoilBiodiversity #NewZealand #Aotearoa

A photograph of a giant springtail on a decaying log. The springtail has soft blue skin, and is covered in soft, pointy yellow spines.

A photograph of a velvet worm on a decaying log. The velvet worm has many legs, soft blue skin, and is covered in beautiful orange dots scattered randomly over its body.

A photograph of a pair of leaf-veined slugs on a decaying log. One is orange and the other is green, and both have a leaf vein-like branching depression running down the midline of their bodies, giving them a leaf-like appearance.

A photograph of a manuka chafer beetle walking on a bright yellow sheet. The beetle is beautifully iridescent green with orange-brown legs.

Only 24 hours left to vote for the Giant Springtails to win Bug of the Year!

If I haven't convinced you yet, perhaps this photo I took of one DEFENSIVELY BLEEDING will win you over. So metal.

We need every vote we can get, so please vote now: https://www.bugoftheyear.ento.org.nz/vote-here-2025/

#Invertebrate #TeamGiantSpringtail #BugoftheYear2025 #BugoftheYear #Entomology #Collembola

A photograph of a blue invertebrate covered in yellow spines, curled up and secreting two blobs of white blood from its head and back.

Colouring contest results!!

There were so many amazing entries, but these two were so good I couldn't decide between them and split the result into two categories 😅

Congratulations to Kora and Heidi for these epic giant springtails, I'll be in touch to arrange your prizes!

There's only two days left to vote for the giant springtail to win bug of the year. Vote now: https://www.bugoftheyear.ento.org.nz/vote-here-2025/

#TeamGiantSpringtail #BugoftheYear2025 #Collembola #Entomology

A swirling blue and yellow/brown marble-print style drawing of a giant springtail.

A drawing of a giant springtail, where all of the spines have been converted into multi-coloured tiny springtails of many different kinds.

🚨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!!

#BugoftheYear #BugoftheYear2025 #Collembola #Entomology #SoilBiodiversity #SoilFauna #SoilEcology #Macrophotography

A photograph of a giant springtail viewed from above, crawling on a NZ one dollar coin. The springtail is blue with yellow spines, and in length is only about half the width of the coin.

🚨Colouring contest update🚨

The #TeamGiantSpringtail colouring competition has had some impressive submissions, well done to everyone who has contributed so far!

To help some local libraries get involved, I'm extending the deadline to 14th Feb - so there's still time to submit a romantic valentines springtail drawing!

Just download the template and have a go! Post your finished artwork on here with the tag #TeamGiantSpringtail and make sure you vote for the giant springtail in the contest!

Template here: https://www.bugoftheyear.ento.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Giant-Springtail-scaled.jpg

#BugoftheYear #Entomology #BugoftheYear2025 #SoilBiodiversity

A collage of images of coloured-in giant springtail drawings , with many brightly-coloured designs.

Less than 3 weeks left till #BugoftheYear2025 is over!

I'll go back to posting photos of other lovely soil invertebrates when voting closes on 17th Feb... but until then it's gonna step up a notch!

Just look at this little face and go vote Giant Springtail: https://www.bugoftheyear.ento.org.nz/vote-here-2025/

#Invertebrate #Collembola #Entomology #Macrophotography #SoilBiodiversity #Aotearoa #NewZealand #TeamGiantSpringtail

A photograph of giant springtail facing towards the camera. The springtail has a soft blue body with many long, soft orange spines covering it.

Jeff just got even sexier.

There's only four weeks left to vote for Giant Springtails to win the Bug of the Year contest. Let's get these tiny prehistoric marvels the public attention and conservation support they need!

https://www.bugoftheyear.ento.org.nz/vote-here-2025/

#Invertebrate #TeamGiantSpringtail #Entomology #SoilBiodiversity #Collembola #BugoftheYear #BugoftheYear2025

A meme showing a scene from Jurassic Park, where Dr Grant and Dr Sadler are shocked to see a dinosaur for the first time, except the final window shows a shirtless Jeff Goldblum with a giant springtail for a head.

For a little bit of joy amidst the gloom, I voted in New Zealand Bug of the Year 2025. You could too! https://bugoftheyear.ento.org.nz/

My three votes went to:

1. Ngāokeoke (NZ Velvet Worm) https://bugoftheyear.ento.org.nz/2024-bug-of-the-year-nominees/ngaokeoke-nz-velvet-worm/

2. Giant Springtail https://bugoftheyear.ento.org.nz/2025-bug-of-the-year-nominees/giant-springtail/

3. Powelliphanta | Giant Ground Snail https://bugoftheyear.ento.org.nz/2025-bug-of-the-year-nominees/powelliphanta-giant-ground-snail/

Thanks to @joncounts for boosting @frankashwood's springtail promos by way of encouragement 😊

#BugOfTheYear
#BugOfTheYear2025
#BugsAndCrittersOfAotearoa

I have it on good authority that the Giant Springtail is the current frontrunner in #BugoftheYear, so a huge thanks to everyone who has voted for it so far!

BUT it's still early days, and there's a month of voting left - so let's keep the momentum up! Vote here, if you haven't already: https://www.bugoftheyear.ento.org.nz/vote-here-2025/

Thanks to Amy Vaughan for being chief meme creator for #TeamGiantSpringtail. Stand by for lots more top quality content.

#BotY #bugoftheyear2025 #Invertebrate #Entomology #Nature #Bugs #Insects #Collembola

An edited image of Gollum from Lord of the Rings holding up a giant springtail, with text below reading 'My precious'.

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/

#Entomology #Macrophotography #TeamGiantSpringtail #BugoftheYear2025 #BotY #SoilEcology #SoilBiodiversity #Invertebrate

A photograph of a blue bodied, yellow-spined giant springtail crawling upside-down beneath a plant root, while a small yellow slender springtail walks on its head.

Do you need a New Year's resolution that's quick, free, easy to achieve and makes a difference?

Then l've got one for you! Vote for Giant Springtail (Holacanthella) in the Bug of the Year contest! You can vote from anywhere in the world, just follow the link below!

https://bugoftheyear.ento.org.nz/vote-here-2025/

#BugOfTheYear2025 #bugoftheyear
#TeamHolacanthella #Entomology #SoilBiodiversity #Macrophotography

A photo of a giant springtail, and invertebrate with a soft blue body and lots of yellow spines on its back.

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/

#BotY2025 #BugOfTheYear #BugoftheYear2025 #Collembola #SoilBiodiversity #SoilEcology #Macrophotography #Invertebrate

A photograph of a giant springtail viewed from above. The springtail has a large, soft blue body covered in many long yellow spines.

This weekend I'll be leading a search for giant springtails up in Motueka with the lovely folks at Friends of Flora.

They've promised to throw their weight behind the giant springtail in the NZ Bug of the Year 2025 contest if we're successful, so fingers crossed we find loads!

I'll of course be taking my camera, so stand by for updates...

#SoilBiodiversity #SoilEcology #SoilFauna #Collembola #bugoftheyear2025 #Entomology #NaturePhotography #Aotearoa

A photograph of a giant springtail - a large, soft-bodied invertebrate with yellow and purple spines on its dorsal surface.

🚨ANNOUNCEMENT🚨

I'm delighted to say that my nomination was accepted for Giant Springtails (Holacanthella species) as a contender for New Zealand's Bug of the Year 2025 competition!

Voting opens in early 2025, so stand-by for lots of giant springtail content, as I work to secure your vote for these amazing endemic invertebrates!

#BugOfTheYear2025 #Entomology #Collembola #Aotearoa

#BugoftheYear2025

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