For anyone who needs it- this is my mesofauna website, documenting the incredible lives and beauty of soil animals and soil biodiversity around the world. #mesofauna #soilanimals #biodiversity #collembola #mites #biodiversity
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Andy Murray
@mesofauna
Macro photographer, writer, into entomology and travelling. Studies/loves Collembola, other assorted mesofauna and macro beasts.
chaosofdelight.orgJoined February 2016
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Through his photography, entomologist Andy Murray reveals the hidden & fascinating world that lies beneath our feet.
Here he tells his story 🎥
#SoilBiodiversity #WorldSoilDay #COP15 #COP15montreal
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A superb overview of soil life and carbon capture. Really worth watching.
Wie uns das Leben im Boden helfen kann youtu.be/Noftrthvv1M via
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It's still World Soil Day- celebrating the essential life-giving wonder of soil. #worldsoilday #soilanimals #mesofauna chaosofdelight.org
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#SoilBiodiversity comes in multiple flavours and requires adequate #natureConservation strategies.
Look at all the aliens that live at the tip of your toes.
pics:@FrankAshwood and others
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OK, seeing as it's international jumping spider day... just this once, a lovely Opisthoncus sp. from Tasmania, Australia....
#JumpingSpiderDay #spider
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Is this
a) a myxomycete/slime mould fruiting body, or
b) a Belisha beacon so that springtails know where they can cross the log safely?
I guess we will never know.
#slimemould #belishabeacon
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A beautiful, seed-shaped Achipteria species of oribatid mite, probably either A. coleoptera or A. nitens. #mite #oribatid #soilanimal chaosofdelight.org
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So, hello everyone- it's been a long time away. Oh well...
Here's a young Cepheus dentata for a Friday evening.... #oribatid #mite #soil chaosofdelight.org
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A lovely and rather ornate Monobella grassei from yesterday.
#springtail #collembola #mesofauna #soilanimal chaosofdelight.org
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Hello everyone. I'm back. Happy summer solstice. This is a photo from a couple of days ago- a Bdellidae mite, from Avalon marshes near to where I live. #mite #soilanimal chaosofdelight.org
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Just landed a three month copy-editing contract with FAO! I’ve been busy with full time work for the first time in a long time! Very happy. Just to put it out there that I’ll be free for editing from July onwards, soil science reports and papers a speciality.
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What do soil animals eat and why do we need to care? Explained in plain text with great illustrations by @FrankAshwood and others + cool scheme from my colleague, Svenja Mayer.
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What, where and how do soil animals eat?
@AntonCollembola and @OlafUCD answer these and other questions in the latest blog: globalsoilbiodiversity.org/blog-beneath-o
@bluhm_sl @RoryJMcDonnell @MPollierer @stefan_geisen
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This is the beautiful, proud and defiant head of Holacanthella spinosa, a New Zealand giant springtail.
#ukraine #киев #украина #springtail
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A contender for the most colours ever used by one springtail- a Katianna species from Tasmania, Australia... #springtail #collembola #soilanimal #mesofauna chaosofdelight.org
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Despite mites not getting a mention, it’s good to see springtails and pseudo scorpions in the mix. What I mean to say is- this is great.
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Maybe time to consider a new term for 'deadwood' given it's anything but dead! Any ideas?
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As a huge fan of anthropomorphism, this springtail, (probably a juvenile Sminthurinus niger) looks plaintive and pensive. Will accept other emotional suggestions... #springtail #collembola #soilanimal chaosofdelight.org
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This is a photo of a Lobella-type springtail. The blue behind it is real. It's standing on a fallen cassowary plum, a large blue fruit favoured by the cassowary in Queensland, Australia. Pretty cool! #springtail #collembola #soilanimal chaosofdelight.org
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Happy Friday (Wind Is Over).
Here an oribatid mite, Xenillus tegeocranus to celebrate.....
#mite #oribatid #soilanimal #soillife chaosofdelight.org
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Yet another photo of Dicyrtoma fusca var. 1. They're just so chunksome and photogenic and they've got these big, beautifully defined heads and stuff.... I can't help myself. #springtail #collembola ¢mesofauna #soilanimal #soillife chaosofdelight.org
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Monobella grassei is a wonderfully ornate springtail, around 2mm long. There's also an uninvited guest hitching a ride on her head- a tiny, perfect coil of immature nematode. #springtail #collembola #soillife #soilanimal #mesofauna chaosofdelight.org
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Happy Valentine's day to all lovers (of springtails) out there...
#springtail #collembola #soilanimal chaosofdelight.org
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A benign, loving gaze from Dicyrtomina ornata to brighten up a wet Sunday afternoon, here in the UK....
#springtail #collembola #mesofauna #soilLife chaodsofdelight.org
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I thought that this was fun- my only textbook-style photo of a crane fly's mouthparts. A handheld, twelve photo stack done out in a meadow one warm summer evening, years ago... #cranefly #notaspringtail
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Liacarus subterraneus is yet another beautiful oribatid mite that's really common locally.
I've been trying to get into the woods every day at the moment. Seeing the early signs of spring everywhere has been wonderful.
#mite #soil #mesofauna #soilanimal
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I found this common but lovely Hermannia species of oribatid mite in the local woods, just before bumping into , a fellow megafauna, on the hunt for winter Diptera. A very nice afternoon. #mite #mesofauna #oribatid #soil #soilanimal chaosofdelight.org
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A Neelus murinus from this afternoon in the woods. I still enjoy photographing them after all these years. They're just such an adorably peculiar springtail... Check out 'springtail of the month- Neelus murinus' on Google for more info #springtail #collembola #soil #soilanimal
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Orchesella villosa is one of the UK's larger springtails. They are also rather hairy, hence the name 'villosa'. When they're stood like this they are quite unflappable and are rather tolerant of a camera lens and flash... #springtail #collembola #macro #soilanimal #mesofauna
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And thanks to an update, I can't export photos with the retouch editing intact. SO there's a hoofing bit of crap in the photos...
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Another Dicyrtomina minuta for a UK Saturday night...
#springtail #collembola #soil #soilanimal chaosofdelight.org
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A photo of an Epicrius species of mesostigmatid mite. They have a beautiful and distinctive ornamentations across their back and hunt with sticky setae on their forelegs.... #mite #mesofauna #soil #soilanimal chaosofdelight.org
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Tritegeus bisulcatus is an oribatid mite that looks just like a Chesterfield leather armchair. Best studied with a handlebar moustache, cigar and a large glass of cognac... #mesofauna #mite #soilanimal #bbcwinterwatch chaosofdelight.org
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One of the more unusual looking oribatid mites- a Ceratoppia species, photographed in South Somerset, UK. Mites are perennially interesting and bizarre. There are so many UK ones I still want to see.... #mesofauna #soil #mite #macro chaosofdelight.org
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Jay’s ongoing work for her biodiversity poster. I can’t tell you how good this is.
instagram.com/jay.morris8/re
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