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bugwizardshloop.bsky.social
Shloop 𓅃
@bugwizardshloop.bsky.social
960 followers 550 following 480 posts
🇭🇰Nature photography w/ a TG | Volunteering at HKU School of Biological Sciences | interested in Lucanidae rearing and Vespinae ecology | He/they 🏳️‍🌈
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bugwizardshloop.bsky.social
Shloop 𓅃 @bugwizardshloop.bsky.social · Nov 30
I know the majority of my circle consists of entomologists, but I also wanted to revisit my pinning guide on Twitter. So now I’m not active there, here is a more comprehensive guide on how to start your own collection! Focusing on hard-bodied insects big enough to be pinned.
White frame of various moths, butterflies, bees, wasps and beetles.
bugwizardshloop.bsky.social
#inverts 🕷️
bugwizardshloop.bsky.social Shloop 𓅃 @bugwizardshloop.bsky.social · 10d
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 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.
November 15, 2025 at 2:42 PM
bugwizardshloop.bsky.social
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 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.
November 15, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Reposted by Shloop 𓅃
markwitton.bsky.social
October 30, 2025 at 9:21 PM
bugwizardshloop.bsky.social
#Invertober Day 4: Palm weevil (Rhycnhophorus)
A messy ink drawing of a robustly shaped weevil. It has club-like antennae and three thick black stripes on its pronotum.
October 8, 2025 at 4:28 PM
bugwizardshloop.bsky.social
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.
October 1, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Reposted by Shloop 𓅃
thewild.news
Pristine areas see insect decline. New research points to climate change as a primary factor.

#Insects #Climate #Environment
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.
n.pr
October 1, 2025 at 5:00 PM
bugwizardshloop.bsky.social
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
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.
September 23, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Reposted by Shloop 𓅃
mhedin.bsky.social
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.
September 23, 2025 at 1:25 AM
bugwizardshloop.bsky.social
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.
September 1, 2025 at 12:58 AM
bugwizardshloop.bsky.social
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
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).
August 30, 2025 at 6:56 PM
bugwizardshloop.bsky.social
In my trip to Taiwan I visited a few beetle stores including Insect Jungle, which offers an incredible variety of pet beetles and supplies. They include Rhaetus westwoodi, one of the most prized stag beetles, and Dynastes satanas which is rare in the wild, among other uncommon species. #invertefest
The entrance of Insect Jungle inside a garage. It has glass doors with beetle posters plastered all over the entrance. The interior of the store. There are shelves of labelled, transparent plastic boxes where beetles live. There also are display cases of dead beetles and pet beetle/entomological supplies Posters of beetles are seen all over the walls. A black rhinoceros beetle with thoracic and cephalic horns of similar length. On the bottom of its thoracic horn and below is a dense, orange pubescence. It is labelled as “Dynastes satanas”, 74mm. A pair of the beetles costs 2000 NTD. Side view of a jet black stag beetle with its head poking out of some sphagnum moss. Its downwards-curving mandibles have a rhomboid “shield” at the base, a protrusion in the middle and ends with a fork. It is labelled R. westwoodi westwoodi, 85.5mm along. One single male beetle costs 32000 NTD.
August 27, 2025 at 1:50 PM
bugwizardshloop.bsky.social
For #invertefest here’s a lovely specimen of what is IMO one of the coolest stag beetles in Taiwan - Neolucanus maximus. Found at midnight when summer comes to an end, their unique mandibles have earned the nickname “dragon’s tooth” given by enthusiasts.
Top view of a splayed specimen of a shiny black stag beetle with a small, trapezoid head. It has large mandibles which curve slightly and end with around 5 serrations When viewed from the side, the mandibles has two points which protrude upwards and outwards, one large point at the base and a smaller one near the end, somewhat like the horns of a dragon
August 26, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Reposted by Shloop 𓅃
cuttledreams.bsky.social
Bug time!! Got this one done just in time for #Invertefest ~
An illustration of the earwig Oreasiobia fedtschenkoi. It is swooping down wings outstretched. Around it is a wavy golden boarder and star shapes. The background is waves of pastel purples pinks and greens with glitter-like sparkles.
August 26, 2025 at 2:42 AM
bugwizardshloop.bsky.social
With larvae weighing over 250 grams and adults weighing only a quarter of its larval weight, Megasoma rex is the heaviest insect in the world.

It is split from Megasoma actaeon in 2018, based on small morphological differences and geographical isolation.

#invertefest
A marker drawing of a rhinoceros beetle with a bulky body. It has large, conical thoracic horns protruding parallel to its cephalic horn, with has an inner “tooth” pointing outwards and ends with a fork.
August 25, 2025 at 11:15 AM
bugwizardshloop.bsky.social
Leaf insects are one of the rarest phasmids in HK, with no specimens in museums and only a few photos online. They have been high on my wishlist, then I saw what looked like a bizarre assassin bug. I still couldn’t believe what I found.

Happy #InverteFest !!!!
A red stick insect with a flat abdomen and lobed legs (leaf insect). It stands idle among brown and green leaf litter. Head shot of the stick insect, with its arms extending forwards. It hangs upside down on a branch. The insect, viewed from the roof on my hand. It’s around a centimetre long. Lateral view of the same bug on a stick, upside down. There are white patches on its legs.
August 24, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Reposted by Shloop 𓅃
jupiterswasphouse.bsky.social
American carrion beetles, which carry the unfortunate name of Necrophila americana! These were hard to get photos of, between how active they were and how much the rabbit carcass they were likely looking to lay some eggs in was stinking :P

#Silphidae #beetles #coleoptera #insects #bugs #photos
A photo of a black and beige american carrion beetle in the sandy soil around a carcass that's mostly off screen Another photo of a black and beige american carrion beetle, a different individual that's a bit darker, in the sandy soil around a carcass that's mostly off screen Another photo of a black and beige american carrion beetle, the same one from the first image, in the sandy soil around a carcass that's mostly off screen
August 18, 2025 at 10:59 PM
bugwizardshloop.bsky.social
Largest cicada in the world! Megapomponia imperatoria (empress cicada) came to the moth sheet at Fraser’s Hill, Malaysia.

#bugsky #inverts
Rusty brown, long bodied cicada with transparent wings with a few spots. It is on a white sheet. The cicada zoomed in. On the centre of the thorax is a black •w• mark. Cicada next to band. Its body alone is as long as my middle finger
July 19, 2025 at 6:13 PM
bugwizardshloop.bsky.social
I found this beauty dead by the road. It is Amplypterus panopus, one of the largest sphingids in HK. As a male, it only has a wingspan of 13cm, but females can reach 17cm. As it likely lived a long life, the moth is a bit battered and lost much of its striking colours.
#teammoth #inverts
A tan moth with a large body and long wingspan. It has a dark brown thorax, body and base of wing. At the middle section of the forewing and the apical margins of the hind wing creates of dark brown, somewhat straight border. It has eye spots at the lower end of its forewings. It has a large patch of pink on each of its hindwings. The underside of the moth is tan, brown and near the body, yellow, resembling fallen autumn leaves.
June 30, 2025 at 6:42 PM
bugwizardshloop.bsky.social
One of my favourite stag beetles (Hexarthrius parryi) 😇

Hailing from much of Southeast Asia, members of the genus are notorious for their fierce personality. They give off a powerful aura.
#inverts #bugsky
Top view of a shiny black stag beetle with orange oval patches on its elytra. Its head has a bump on each side and mandibles expand outwards in a straight line and curve inwards, with “teeth” only at the end. Diagonal, horizontal view of the aforementioned beetle, feeding on a brown jelly. Here, you can see its downward-curving mandibles and a large fork on its mandibles.
June 15, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Reposted by Shloop 𓅃
franzanth.bsky.social
Don't have an invertebrate artwork to post for #InverteFest?

I got you covered. I teamed up with multiple experts to create guides to comprehend various invertebrate anatomy.

Links to the full posts in the reply below.
complex crab anatomy guide, covering the basic parts of the arms, legs, body shape, and tail. complex bivalve anatomy guide covering the basic jargons of the anatomy, the shape, shell margin, and ribbed texture called sculpture. complex crinoid anatomy guide focusing on the different jargons used to describe their body parts like the stalk, calyx, and arms complex cephalopod anatomy guide primarily concerning the basic anatomy, eye shape, and how some of them are shelled while most are naked
August 26, 2024 at 5:56 PM
Reposted by Shloop 𓅃
ed-phillips.bsky.social
Some of the guests in our bee-hotel this weekend. We offer rooms 2mm to 10mm in diameter that attract mason and leafcutter bees; and other solitary bees/wasps (including parasitic/cuckoo species). Also get a range of interlopers that just need a room for the night. Hours of entertainment! #Staffs
June 1, 2025 at 2:40 PM
Reposted by Shloop 𓅃
martinswarren.bsky.social
Two alternative views of Cream-spot Tiger - cute or what! #mothsmatter #teammoth
A head of view of a Cream-spot Tiger, showing feathered antennae and bright red hairs and black legs The stunning underside of the Cream-spot Tiger moth, showing bright red, black and white patterns showing that its poisonous
May 24, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Reposted by Shloop 𓅃
0rthoptera.bsky.social
i love u tiger beetle
May 23, 2025 at 7:46 PM
bugwizardshloop.bsky.social
Always excited to see this fellow when May returns. Irura bidenticulata 🙂 #inverts
A flat jumping spider when a metallic purple sheen. Its body is covered in shiny gold patches. It has enlarged forearms
May 11, 2025 at 5:43 PM