Ele Willoughby: Making some new antipodean invertebrates for July, the subterranean month for #InsertAnInvert2024 🧪🐡 You may not know the velvet worms if you live outside the tropics & in the N hemisphere. There are 2 families of them: 1 in the tropics & the other, like my Lino block depicts, from the southern 🧵

Making some new antipodean invertebrates for July, the subterranean month for #InsertAnInvert2024 🧪🐡 You may not know the velvet worms if you live outside the tropics & in the N hemisphere. There are 2 families of them: 1 in the tropics & the other, like my Lino block depicts, from the southern 🧵

hemisphere (once parts of Gondwana). They are velvety (& cute, if ruthless nocturnal sticky slime spitting hunters) but they aren’t worms or even quite arthropods like insects. Onychophora are a phylum of soft-bodied many-legged creatures resembling caterpillars who never become butterflies. 🧵2/n

Velvet worms are generally considered close relatives of the Arthropoda (insects, crustaceans, spiders & such) & Tardigrada (you know, the nearly indestructible tardigrades) with which they form the proposed taxon Panarthropoda. 🧵3/4

They shun light & seek dark places, & some even live in caves. Some velvet worms bear live young! 🧵4/4

I know this little friend! Mostly because we had a seriously dedicated entomologist as a family acquaintance.

I think that’s how I first learned of them myself! They look adorable but seem deeply strange to me the more I read about them.

Yes! I mean the whole ovoviviparous situation is a lot on its own. Tasmania is so full of little evolutionary paths that get weird because it's been isolated for so long. Growing up there made me curious about what's endemic wherever I'm living or visiting. Thank you for making cool, thoughtful art!

This little buddy was first described when I was in high school en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leucopa... An absolute sweetheart

Leucopatus - Wikipediaen.m.wikipedia.org

Well *someone* is an over-achiever. Being all ahead of the game and stuff. 🤣 (No shade intended! I'm just salty because I'm always behind. 😭)

Ha! My hangover from my time in academia is a great horror of deadlines. I will do anything to avoid doing things the night before now.

Heh, I remember that feeling! I've had so much chronic health stuff in the last few years that sometimes just getting stuff *done* is a challenge. 😂

This is gorgeous! I can't wait to see what else you come up with for subterranean month. It's really fun when you get to introduce someone to velvet worms for the 1st time, they're the epitome of wonderfully weird

Thanks very much! I’ll post my finished print soon. I had seen photos of velvet worms before but am just now learning how truly weird they are!

Just love your mix of art and science! A steep learning curve with this morning's cup of tea.

Thanks very much!

early again as always!

I really have to be with this one. It’s the last day of school and so I am unlikely to be able to much of anything done next week with 10yo at home.

ahh it's that time of the year, huh. hope you survive the season and have fun!

Thanks! I will do my best. Currently our home has become a movie set for his stop-motion. So next week I will be happy if we get things back to “reasonable home for 3 people and one cat.”

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