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Description
I got to illustrate a freshly published book about soil ecology and the amazing variety of creatures that live beneath our feet. The book is published by the Finnish publisher Gaudeamus and called Elämää maaperän kätköissä ("Life hidden in the soil"). It was lovely to be able to work with experts of each taxon to depict them as anatomically correct and lifelike.

These three fall to the category of barely visible to the naked eye. Only 2 to 4 millimeters long, these animals are still rather large on the scale of soil inhabitants. Top image is a red velvet mite (family Trombidiidae), a soft and squishy predator that can be seen running around like a maniac. Despite their size, they are fairly noticeable due to their bright colour and active habits. I'd like to enlargen one to the size of a cat and keep it as a pet.

The middle one is a species of forest-dwelling pseudoscorpion (Neobisium carcinoides) just failing to catch a springtail of the genus Pogognathellus. Pseudoscorpions look clumsy and gentle, but they are active predators with poisonous pincers. They eat by vomiting digestive juices on top of their victim and then slurping down the resulting bug smoothie. Yum.

In the bottom image waves a proturan of the genus Eosentomon. Distant cousins to insects, proturans are so small and inconspicuous that nobody noticed them until the 20th century. They lack antennae, and instead walk around waving their first pair of legs to feel around. I guess this makes them technically tetrapods.

Description
I got to illustrate a freshly published book about soil ecology and the amazing variety of creatures that live beneath our feet. The book is published by the Finnish publisher Gaudeamus and called Elämää maaperän kätköissä ("Life hidden in the soil"). It was lovely to be able to work with experts of each taxon to depict them as anatomically correct and lifelike.

These three fall to the category of barely visible to the naked eye. Only 2 to 4 millimeters long, these animals are still rather large on the scale of soil inhabitants. Top image is a red velvet mite (family Trombidiidae), a soft and squishy predator that can be seen running around like a maniac. Despite their size, they are fairly noticeable due to their bright colour and active habits. I'd like to enlargen one to the size of a cat and keep it as a pet.

The middle one is a species of forest-dwelling pseudoscorpion (Neobisium carcinoides) just failing to catch a springtail of the genus Pogognathellus. Pseudoscorpions look clumsy and gentle, but they are active predators with poisonous pincers. They eat by vomiting digestive juices on top of their victim and then slurping down the resulting bug smoothie. Yum.

In the bottom image waves a proturan of the genus Eosentomon. Distant cousins to insects, proturans are so small and inconspicuous that nobody noticed them until the 20th century. They lack antennae, and instead walk around waving their first pair of legs to feel around. I guess this makes them technically tetrapods.