Animals worth a closer look

Most people have never really looked at a spider.

Introvertebrates is about the animals that get flinched at, misread, and underestimated — explored through video, writing, and tools for people who find them genuinely fascinating.

  • Current collection tracked in Codex
  • Photographed in my own collection

In my care

Meet the collection.

Tarantulas and other spiders, an assassin bug, sun beetles, and Sonja, a Reeves’s turtle. The full collection now has its own room to breathe.

All current residents

Close portrait of Elvira, a Chilobrachys natanicharum tarantula

Research journal

What science is revealing.

New papers, unusual behaviour, evolution, and discoveries from across the invertebrate world — collected in a growing research journal.

Adult Psyttala horrida assassin bug in an alert stance on cork bark

Introvertebrates on YouTube

Stories in motion.

Close observations, animal behaviour, care, and the details that are easy to miss when we only glance.

From the living Codex

The collection, measured over time.

Public-safe totals and standout measurements from the same field log used to follow feeding, molts, growth, and time in care. Missing measurements stay missing rather than becoming estimates.

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Community field log

Measured by keepers. Reviewed before publication.

A moderated home for remarkable measurements, keeper photography, and individual animal stories. Every published claim shows the evidence level behind it.

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Explore records or submit an animal

Your own Codex data stays private unless you deliberately prepare and share a public-safe submission.

Erlend smiling with his partner in Catania
Erlend and his partner · Catania, 2024

Behind Introvertebrates

Curiosity before fear.

I’m Erlend, the keeper, photographer, writer, and builder behind Introvertebrates. The project grew from a lifelong interest in animals and a desire to replace reflexive fear with closer observation.

Here I bring together my current collection, original photography and video, research notes, and digital tools — all built around the same idea: misunderstood animals become far more remarkable when we take the time to look.

Introvertebrates Codex

Build your field log.

A dedicated digital companion for tracking the animals in your care. The Codex is currently in development.

In development