Texas Ironclad Beetle (Zopherus nodulosus)

Try to pin a Texas Ironclad Beetle (Zopherus nodulosus) and you'll understand how it got its name. This tanklike insect from the south-central United States and northern Mexico has an exoskeleton so heavily armoured it can reportedly bend an entomologist's mounting pin.

The Texas Ironclad Beetle is found in deciduous woodlands and scrubland across Texas, Oklahoma, and neighbouring states, where it feeds on fungi growing on the bark of dead and dying trees - particularly pecans, oaks, and elms. It is slow-moving, flightless, and largely nocturnal, relying on its extraordinary toughness rather than speed or flight for defence. The exoskeleton is so hard that entomologists have historically struggled to pin specimens without bending their pins - a practical difficulty that has become part of the beetle's legend.

This remarkable durability has drawn the attention of materials scientists studying biological armour. The beetle's exoskeleton achieves its strength through interlocking joints between the wing cases - a form of biological engineering that distributes force across multiple connection points rather than concentrating stress. Research into these structures has influenced the design of fasteners and joints in aerospace engineering - a satisfying example of a small, slow beetle contributing to the science of flight, despite having given up flying itself.

Bugs is a collection of natural history illustration prints drawn from the insect world - beetles, flies, bugs, butterflies, and moths selected for the strangeness, beauty, and variety of their forms.

Each illustration is adapted from Simon Tyler's book Bugs, published by Pavilion in 2017 and subsequently published in French and Chinese. The series draws on the tradition of scientific natural history illustration - precise, considered, and attentive to the details that make each species distinctive.

Insects account for the majority of all known animal species on Earth. This collection is a small survey of what that diversity looks like.

All prints are produced to order on 250gsm archival matte paper using pigment-based inks, chosen for colour accuracy and long-term stability.

Each print is rolled in acid-free tissue and shipped in a rigid cardboard tube, sealed for moisture protection, ready for framing on arrival.

Large · 50 × 70 cm · 20 × 28 in

XLarge · 70 × 100 cm · 28 × 40 in

UK: Free · 3-5 working days

Europe: €8.50 · 3-7 working days · No customs charges

USA & Canada: $8.95 / $12.00 CAD · 5-10 working days

Australia: $14.00 AUD · 5-10 working days

Rest of World: £14.95 · 7-14 working days

All prints are produced to order and dispatched within 1-3 working days. Orders placed before 5pm GMT ship the same day. You'll receive tracking information by email once dispatched.

Orders outside Europe may be subject to local customs charges on delivery - these are the responsibility of the recipient.

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Returns accepted within 30 days. Email returns@axisophy.com with your order number and we'll provide return instructions.

Return postage is the customer's responsibility except where the print arrives damaged or there's been an error - in which case we'll arrange a replacement or refund immediately, no return needed.

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