iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

🌿 On 1 Jan, @biodivlibrary.bsky.social becomes fully independent & global after 19 years hosted by the Smithsonian. BHL Australia is proud to be part of this effort. Donate to our #GiveBHLWings campaign to help BHL soar into the future: ancrywkv.donorsupport.co/page/GiveBHL... #BHLTransition 🧪🌱

An historic illustration of an emu (a large brown flightless bird) with 5 chicks. There is another emu in the background.

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BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

The BHL must transition from the Smithsonian on 1 Jan. This #GivingTuesday we need your support to keep BHL afloat. BHL’s 63 million pages of #OpenAccess biodiversity knowledge come from 64 Australian organisations & 668 worldwide. Please donate. 🌱 🌏 📚 🦘

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BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

These images appear in J. D. Hooker’s work after the Transit of Venus expedition to Kerguelen islands in 1874-1875, recounting the species described through all expeditions to date. Hooker himself visited the islands with Ross expedition of 1839-1843. www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/50570544

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BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

Happy Marsupial Monday! We love a #TreeKangaroo, & Bennett’s tree-kangaroo is a special one. With a small range in Northern Qld, this is an elusive creature with a large leap. This image appeared in the 1894 Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/30982782

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BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

This #FloralFriday we’re feeling a bit spooky—it is Halloween after all! These images come from “The weeds, poison plants, and naturalized aliens of Victoria” (1909) by Alfred Ewart . The “apple of Sodom”, thorn apple (or jimsonweed) and hemlock are all poisonous.

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BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

This #ThreatenedThursday join us in admiring the black-footed tree rat! One of Australia’s endemic rodents, this little critter is found in northern Australia. Vulnerable throughout its range, this rodent—also known as Djintamoonga—is endangered in the NT. www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/49706007

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BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 26/10/2025

This #MarsupialMonday we’re pleased to bring another common possum to the fore: the common brushtail possum, or 𝘛𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘶𝘴 𝘷𝘶𝘭𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘢—aka the possum you’ve most likely heard on your roof or seen ravaging your fruit trees. www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/53742445

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BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 26/10/2025

Do you love insects? Then you’ll love “An epitome of the natural history of the insects of New Holland, New Zealand, New Guinea, Otaheite, and other islands in the Indian, Southern, and Pacific oceans”, or "Donovan’s Epitome of the insects of New Holland"! www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/52221720

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BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 25/10/2025

Weekends are for lounge #lizards! We love “The Lizards of Australian and New Zealand in the collection of the British Museum” 🦎 by British zoologist John Edward Gray with lithographs by Charles Joseph Hullmandel. ➡️ www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/64095425 Via Museums Vic

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BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

We’re hopping with excitement as we wish you a happy #WorldKangarooDay! This particular Kangaroo is found in George Shaw’s “Naturalist’s Miscelleny,” which was published in instalments from 1789 -1813. This image by Nodder comes from volume one! www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/59891600

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BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

It’s #WorldWombatDay! We’re extremely fond of these marsupials around here and happy for any opportunity to celebrate them. Whether it’s a common wombat, a hairy-nosed wombat or a bare-nosed wombat, we think they’re all neat. Thus, behold an array of wombat illustrations!

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BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

New this week! Have you ever wondered limnologists get up to? We’ve got answers! We’re welcoming our newest contributor! We’re pleased to be digitising the bulletins of the Australian Freshwater Sciences Society starting with combined Bulletin No 1 & 2. www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/65164158

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BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 19/10/2025

Did someone say #MarsupialMonday? We present the common ringtail #possum: we especially love a prehensile tail! With a large range up and down Australia’s east coast, they have a healthy population but are not as widespread as the common brushtail possum. www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14299886

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BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 16/10/2025

As you flutter into the weekend, enjoy this illustration by the Scott sisters. This image accompanies their father’s work “Australian lepidoptera and their transformations” & shows the Papilio sthenelus and the Graphium macleayanus. www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/35801350 Via Aus museum

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BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 16/10/2025

VICTOR! Are you celebrating the Tawny Frogmouth with us? After being overlooked for so long, this lovely muppet is our Bird of the Year! Via Gould’s “Birds of Australia” & Mathews’s “The Birds of Australia” www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/48200504 www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/53451225

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BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 13/10/2025

This week our BHL Australia collection surpassed 700,000 pages! A huge thank you to the 64 Australian orgs who've allowed us to upload their collections online, and to #AtlasofLivingAustralia for funding @bhl-au.bsky.social and to #MuseumsVictoria for hosting our national digitisation lab. 🧪 📖 🌱 🌏 🦘

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BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 12/10/2025

Happy #MarsupialMonday! We’re digging the #MarsupialMole this week. Marsupial moles are still quite mysterious to us—field studies have not been abundant. They dig through sand, but beyond their terrain we don't yet know much about their life underground. www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/15044017

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BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 12/10/2025

It’s #WorldAlgaeDay! What better day to celebrate the work of Irish phycologist William Henry Harvey. These images are drawn from the first volume of Harvey’s “Phycologia Australica”. To compile his works, Harvey travelled the world collecting specimens. www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/3809423

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BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 11/10/2025

We love a menagerie! William Saville-Kent’s “The Great Barrier Reef of Australia” is a trove of photographs & vibrant lithographs. Tumbling all these echinoderms together creates a kaleidoscopic effect that reflects the biodiversity present on the reef! www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/10698195

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BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 09/10/2025

Happy #SquidAndCuttlefishDay! We love checking in on McCoy’s “Prodromus of the zoology of Victoria” for images like these of the Australian giant cuttlefish. These images don’t, however, capture the cuttlefish’s ability to change colour & patterns quickly. www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/5220064

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BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

Tonight we observe #NautilusNight! This image features the Nautilus pompilius which can be found near reefs in Australia as well as in sites in Micronesia and Japan. The beauty of their shells puts them at risk: they are threatened due to overfishing. www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/40430192

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Reposted by BHL Australia

Biodiversity Heritage Library @biodivlibrary.bsky.social · 07/10/2025

Did you know that BHL has #FullTextSearch? You can search for scientific names, places, etc, but you can also find all the things that "Alfred Russell Wallace" found "delicious" in his travels (search for "delicious" and then narrow search results by author). #ILoveBHL www.biodiversitylibrary.org 🧪

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BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 07/10/2025

We’re back on the Ross Expedition to meet the Leopard Seal! Expect to find more leopard seals in the Antarctic than in Australia—they are pagophilic—but vagrants do stray north into Southern Australian waters. www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/6957532 Contributed by to BHL by MBLWHOI library

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BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 07/10/2025

Happy #WorldOctopusDay! Alongside the Octopus Furvus, this illustration shows the Octopus Tetricus—the common Sydney octopus or “Gloomy” octopus. This octopus ranges along the eastern coastline of Australia and can also be found in Northern New Zealand. www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/32033245

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BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 06/10/2025

New this week! Among our recent uploads to BHL are the 1953-1955 volumes of the “Records of the South Australian Museum”. Included here is the introduction of the spotted stingaree to the scientific record by Trevor Scott in 1954. www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/65114357

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BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 06/10/2025

We’re hopping into #MarsupialMonday to appreciate the agile #wallaby 𝘕𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘴. A resident of Australia’s north, this wallaby can also be found in southern New Guinea. www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/62576010 Contributed to BHL Australia by Museums Victoria

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BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 05/10/2025

We love “Harmonia ruralis” by #JamesBolton (1735-1799), an English naturalist & illustrator. Here focuses on the songbirds of Britain and their nests and eggs. His primary interest was fungi, but this late work was popular enough to be reprinted. ➡️ www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/63894402

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BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

This #FloralFriday we’re admiring the botanical observations of the Ross Expedition in “The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage of H. M. discovery ships Erebus and Terror in the years 1839-1843” by Joseph Dalton Hooker, illustrated by W. H. Fitch. ➡️ www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/13448423

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BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 02/10/2025

This #ThreatenedThursday we're highlighting the Norfolk Island golden whistler (#2). In 2005, it was estimated there were 535 breeding pairs. This small population & restricted range leave the subspecies vulnerable to shifts in environmental conditions. www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/45925327

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BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

October is #BatAppreciationMonth! In that vein, meet the #GhostBat! The ghost bat preys on large vertebrates including birds, reptiles and other mammals—it is the only Australian bat to do so! www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/28522650 Via the Natural History Museum Library, London

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BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 30/09/2025

New this week! #Entomology enthusiasts can catch up on the first quarter of 2020’s “The Australian Entomologist”. This includes the then-newly described Clicking Ambertail, or 𝘠𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘢 𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘦 as pictured here. www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/65083592 via Entomological Society of Queensland.

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BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 29/09/2025

This #MarsupialMonday we bring you a trio of critters: the fat-tailed dunnart, the yellow-footed antechinus and the red-tailed phascogale.

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BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 26/09/2025

Happy #WorldCassowaryDay! We love these images of the Southern cassowary! This Cassowary is now considered a single species, but as you can see in these portraits from “A monograph of the genus Casuarius”, there can be a lot of variation. ➡️ www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/15139771

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BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 25/09/2025

This #ThreatenedThursday meet the Bizart River shark. This rare shark is found in northern Australia and New Guinea. A river shark, it can also be found in marine waters near the shore. From Müller and Henle’s Systematische Beschreibung der Plagiostomen. www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/6353138

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BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

We’re just flying by with a #SquirrelGlider today! “The Naturalist’s Library” is always worth consulting. This little cutie was drawn by William Dicke and engraved by W. H. Lizars. www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/57254827 Contributed to BHL by Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library

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BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

New this week! The 1873 “Report of the Secretary for Agriculture” is available now! Included in the report are these #insect illustrations—budding entomologists feast your eyes! Explore this volume here: www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/65063623 via the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria

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BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 22/09/2025

This #MarsupialMonday we’re pleased to present the Tasmanian #pademelon! Who could resist a mini macropod? The Tasmanian pademelon is abundant across Tas, but no longer found on the mainland. From Gould’s “A monograph of the Macropodidae” via Museums Vic www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/42174455

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BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 21/09/2025

We love these images from “Antarctic days; sketches of the homely side of polar life, by two of Shackleton’s men”. James Murray & George Marston give a whimsical view of their voyage, including their encounters with biodiversity along the way. www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/42625854

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BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 20/09/2025

This #Baturday we’re reflecting on the future of the Christmas Island flying fox. The Guardian recently reported on scientists' fears that this bat could be “one cyclone away from extinction.” These bats are important seed dispersers and pollinators. www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/24862810

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BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 19/09/2025

We’re delighted by this image of the “Lophius monopterygius” or the “Depressed Blackfish Lophius” (actually the coffin ray) from Shaw's "Naturalist's Miscellany". This illustration, though simple, is a plausible rendering of this electric ray! www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/44515801

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BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 18/09/2025

This #ThreatenedThursday we’re highlighting another small creature first described by Baldwin Spencer: the #kowari. The kowari is a small marsupial of the gibber desert. Its distinguishing feature is its tail, with those black hairs at the end. Stylish! www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/57973468

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BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

Want to know what ails your lemon tree? Consult mycologist Daniel McAlpine’s “Fungus diseases of citrus trees in Australia, and their treatment”! These illustrations are by fellow mycologist C. C. Brittlebank, who later became McAlpine’s assistant. www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/59532240

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BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

New this week! We’ve recently uploaded the “Handbook of forest trees for Victorian foresters”. The work of botanist Alfred Ewart, this book had an intended audience of forest officers & students of botany and forestry. Explore the volume here: www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/65053311

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BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

This #MarsupialMonday we’d like to highlight the #Numbat, A carnivore, this critter sports great stripes and a great tail. Previously widespread, the numbat now lives only in small pockets: fewer than 1000 are left in the wild. www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/12865657 via NHM Library, London

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BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 14/09/2025

It’s #WorldBilbyDay! We love the Greater Bilby. They are skilled diggers, and make long tunnel systems: they deserve engineering degrees for their work! (Not coincidentally, they are another marsupial that sports a backwards pouch, to keep the dirt out…) www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/49738075

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BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 13/09/2025

Did someone say bugs 🐜 ? These illustrations by entomologist William Joseph Rainbow come from the Records of the Australian Museum. They present the Goliath Stick Insect and the Children’s stick insect. ➡️ www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/6951790 ➡️ www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/6951794

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BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

This #FloralFriday let us present you this #bouquet from the “Jardin de la Malmaison”. This selection includes the botanical work of Pierre Joseph Redouté, who served Marie Antoinette and then Empress Josephine: artistic and political skills both on point! www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/43518521

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Reposted by BHL Australia

Nicole Kearney @nicolekearney.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

I've been managing BHL's #Bluesky account for 4 months now. It's an honour to share such beautiful & significant content, particularly at this critical time. BHL's future is uncertain, but hopeful. Follow along @biodivlibrary.bsky.social & on the #BHLblog: blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/tag/transition

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BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

This #ThreatenedThursday we’re admiring the greater bilby—look at those ears! This creature used to have a very wide range; now it is restricted to arid regions of Australia. Bilbies are omnivorous, & eat all manner of insects, seeds, fruit & larvae. www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/19555660

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BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 10/09/2025

This week we’re digitising the Bulletin of the Australian Society for Limnology, which is not available anywhere online. It’ll soon be freely accessible on @biodivlibrary.bsky.social. Stay tuned… #ILoveBHL #Freshwater #Biodiversity

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