#gardeneticisms

[gardeneticist]

I think one of my favourite jumping spiders is Opisthoncus necator just because its common name is just “The Murderer” for some reason, so if I ever go to look at it on iNat, I am greeted with this very accusatory title and what is essentially its mug shot

#like.. who did she murder??? #it makes me think of that American tv show host lady who’s always like ‘THE KILLER!’ #gardeneticisms #creature photography #not mine #arachnids #spiders #jumping spiders #Opisthoncus necator

[robotwrangler]

In case anyone wanted to hear one of my pet orchard swallowtail caterpillars chomping a leaf so loud I could hear it from across the room

#gardeneticisms #creature photography #insects #caterpillars #Papilio aegeus

[gardeneticist]

I have a new pet jumping spider as of today! They are a juvenile Mopsus mormon (Green Jumping Spider) and I have named them Melon.

These grow to almost 2cm in body length, making them one of the largest jumping spiders we have in Australia! Melon’s species isn’t native to my state, so I got them from Bug Frenzy, an Aussie business that breeds these (and other bugs) in captivity! :]

#gardeneticisms #creature photography #creature husbandry #arachnids #spiders #jumping spiders #mopsus mormon

[gardeneticist]

A little video I took this week while I was handling my gorgeous girl Citrus, a massive garden jumping spider (Opisthoncus quadratarius)!

Of all my pet jumping spiders she is the calmest and easiest to handle, though she really loves to launch herself at the camera lens so it’s difficult to take videos of her for long.

#gardeneticisms #creature videos #arachnids #spiders #jumping spiders #opisthoncus quadratarius #pet jumping spiders #creature husbandry

[gardeneticist]

Found a nice weevil yesterday! :D

#gardeneticisms #creature photography #insects #beetles #weevils

[gardeneticist]

Some photos + a sketch of this really cool lappet moth (genus Entometa) I found the other day! Kind of reminded me of a gryphon..

#gardeneticisms #creature photography #creature art #insects #moths

[gardeneticist]

“I hate spiders with a passion!!” wow that’s so funny bc I was just talking to the spiders and they said they never heard of you 🥶

#gardeneticisms

[gardeneticist]

Just heard a weird cracking noise from somewhere in my room while I was lying in bed, so I of course got up to investigate.

The absolute awe I felt when I realised that the sound I heard was my pet huntsman spider Lanius biting into a big feeder roach that had been eluding her for the past few days! It’s so amazing to me, I never thought I’d have a pet spider so large that I could hear her feasting from metres away!

#gardeneticisms #creature husbandry #arachnids #spiders #huntsmen #heteropoda jugulans

[gardeneticist]

A few of my favourite jumping spider faces! They can be so cute..

Starting at top-left: Opisthoncus quadratarius (Massive Garden Jumping Spider), Maratus griseus (White-Banded House Jumper), Helpis minitabunda (Bronze Hopper), Ocrisiona leucocomis (White-Striped Ocrisiona), Opisthoncus quadratarius again, Servaea villosa (Shaggy Servaea).

#creature photography #gardeneticisms #arachnids #spiders #jumping spiders #opisthoncus quadratarius #maratus griseus #helpis minitabunda #ocrisiona leucocomis

[gardeneticist]

I just found a male white banded house jumper doing his little dance for a female! It doesn’t look like she was very impressed though..

#the look he gives me at the end.. sorry buddy hope I didn’t embarrass you in front of your crush #arachnids #spiders #jumping spiders #maratus griseum #gardeneticisms #creature videos

[gardeneticist]

These are the lady beetles I’ve found in the past month!

Starting at top-left: Harmonia conformis (Large Spotted Ladybird), Halmus chalybeus (Steelblue Lady Beetle), Coelophora inaequalis (Variable Ladybird), Novius Cardinalis (Vedalia Beetle or Cardinal Ladybird) Coccinella transversalis (Transverse Lady Beetle), Sticholotis quadrimaculata (no common name?), Apolinus lividigaster (Yellow-Shouldered Ladybird), Harmonia testudinaria (Tortoise-Shelled Ladybird) and Micraspis frenata (Striped Ladybird)!

#creature photography #insects #beetles #ladybugs #harmonia conformis #halmus chalybeus #coelophora inaequalis #novius cardinalis #coccinella transversalis #sticholotis quadrimaculata #apolinus lividigaster #harmonia testudinaria #micraspis frenata #mating #gardeneticisms

[gardeneticist]

Just had an absolute moment when I looked up something about a huge bull ant I found, only to see the word “gamergate” on its Wikipedia page, and subsequently discover that “gamergate” is the name given to ant species with fertile workers. Who CALLED them that???

Here is the ant btw. Truly she is a gamer.

#gardeneticisms #creature facts #creature photography #insects #ants #myrmecia tarsata

[gardeneticist]

I just got my first ever pet tarantula! It’s a baby pygmy rainforest tarantula (Coremiocnemis “tropix”) and it’s currently only about 1cm long.

#gardeneticisms #creature photography #arachnids #spiders #tarantulas #coremiocnemis tropix #creature husbandry

[gardeneticist]

Went outside today to test out my new macro clip-on camera lens for my phone, and the first thing I see is this lovely little assassin bug (Pristhesancus plagipennis) sitting on the roof of the dog kennel! It sat perfectly still so it made a great model to test the lens on <3

#it looked like it was eyeing up the bronze orange bugs on my citrus tree. it was like. staring at one in front of it #I hope it eats some of them. they’re really bad for the tree and there are hundreds rn #a few summers ago they had actually almost fully killed the tree #so I had to go and kill over 50 of them by hand so the tree could have a chance to get some leaves growing again #anyway I hope mr assassin bug has a nice long stay because I think he is very cool #insects #true bugs #assassin bugs #pristhesancus plagipennis #gardeneticisms #creature photography

[gardeneticist]

Hi y’all! I have recently started posting videos on tiktok; it is (and will continue to be) mainly focused on my pet bugs, so far mostly jumping spider videos, but there will also be videos of critters I find once it’s no longer the middle of winter.

My tiktok page is https://www.tiktok.com/@robot.wrangler for anyone who might be interested! :]

#gardeneticisms

[gardeneticist]

I’m finally keeping some pet isopods! There are two species (one Porcellio sp., one Spherillo sp.) that live in my back yard very abundantly, so I’ve put together a small colony of each in small temporary enclosures for now and I’m going shopping for some more long-term containers for them tomorrow :]

#gardeneticisms #creature photography #creature husbandry #crustaceans #isopods