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Podium finish for the Giant Springtail!

Congratulations to Team Velvet Worm for a hard-fought and well-deserved victory - making Ngãokeoke the 2025 New Zealand Bug of the Year!

It's brilliant to see a soil/deadwood invertebrate win the contest (they live alongside giant springtails!). Having two soil inverts in the top three winners is amazing awareness raising for soil biodiversity across the country and the world!

Thanks for all the support for #TeamGiantSpringtail, we'll be back to win another year (but maybe I'll take next year off, it was a lot of work). Nice to see my photos in the Guardian article on the contest too: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/20/velvet-worm-new-zealand-bug-of-the-year-winner

An image of a finalists podium, with the velvet worm as gold medalist, nz praying mantis as silver, and giant springtail in bronze.

An infographic with a pie chart and map showing the breakdown of votes for the bug of the year contest.

A screenshot of a news article on The Guardian newspaper online, detailing the big of the year contest with one of my photographs of a velvet worm as the header image.

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 THREE HOURS LEFT TO VOTE!

Anyone in the world can vote in the Bug of the Year contest - It's quick and easy! Please go vote for the Giant Springtail RIGHT NOW!

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

If it wins, I'll get one as my first ever tattoo!!

#Invertebrate #TeamGiantSpringtail #Entomology #Collembola #SoilBiodiversity #SoilFauna

A photograph of a giant springtail - a blue skinned, soft-bodied invertebrate covered in long yellow spines.

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.

Only four days left in the Bug of the Year 2025 contest!

If every single one of my followers on here votes giant springtail RIGHT NOW, we'll easily beat the winner's votes last year!

Let's make it happen - we can't lose to the velvet worm in the last leg!

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

#TeamGiantSpringtail #BugoftheYear #Macrophotography #SoilBiodiversity #Enotomology #Invertebrate

A photograph of a giant springtail with purple spines, laying on its back with its legs in the air.

Less than two weeks left to get your vote in for Giant Springtails in the Bug of the Year contest!

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

It only takes a moment to vote, and you can learn about some amazing critters while doing so. Consider it a nice momentary distraction from everything else that's going on.

#TeamGiantSpringtail #BugoftheYear #Entomology #MemeGiantSpringtail #Collembola #Invertebrate

A screenshot of Kiera Knightley from Love Actually saying 'They're all of me', and banner text above reading 'POV: Giant Springtails scrolling through my social media posts during bug of the year contest'.

🚨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.

@joncounts tell George he will answer for this shameless subterfuge!! Nothing will stop #TeamGiantSpringtail from taking this year’s trophy 😊

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!

#TeamGiantSpringtail #Invertebrate #Entomology #SoilEcology #SoilBiodiversity #Collembola

A photograph of a giant springtail walking on a mass-covered log. The springtail has soft blue skin and is covered in many soft yellow spines.

He's right, you know.

Let's make Giant Springtails NZ's bug of the year, it only takes a moment to vote: https://www.bugoftheyear.ento.org.nz/vote-here-2025/

If you've already voted, then please help by sharing around!

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

A meme showing a male character from the US tv show Shameless lighting a cigarette, with text saying "nobody is too busy to vote Giant Springtail, it's just a matter of priorities".

Did you know that Bug of the Year and the New Zealand Poetry Society have introduced a #BugoftheYear Poetry Competition?

Anyone can enter a poem about the competition's nominees! To give you motivation, here's my poem about Giant Springtails, entitled 'A Small Kind of Giant'!

Deadline for submissions is 31st Jan - More info on how you can get involved and submit your poems here: https://www.bugoftheyear.ento.org.nz/poetry-competition/

Good luck!

#BugoftheYearPoetry2025 #nzpoetrysociety #NaturePoetry #Entomology #TeamGiantSpringtail

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.

🚨GIANT SPRINGTAIL COLOURING CONTEST!🚨

Lily Duval has created this wonderful colouring page -
I want you to fill it with your wildest colour schemes and post it with the hashtag #TeamGiantSpringtail.

The best one (as judged by me) will win a free giant springtail photo print! No age categories - young or old, just have a go!

You can vote for the giant springtail to win Bug of the Year 2025, and download the colouring-in page file here: https://bugoftheyear.ento.org.nz/2025-bug-of-the-year-nominees/giant-springtail/

Contest closing date will be 31st Jan.

#Entomology #BotY2025 #BotY #Collembola #SoilBiodiversity

#TeamGiantSpringtail

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