Field Guide

Land Invertebrates

Showing 31 - 40 of 52 results
Media
Photo of a northern walkingstick on autumn dogwood leaves
Species Types
Scientific Name
Diapheromera femorata, Megaphasma denticrus, and others
Description
Walkingsticks are long, slender insects that are perfectly camouflaged to look like brown or green twigs. Most species are tropical, but some types are found in Missouri.
Media
Photo of a longjawed orbweaver walking on a plant stalk
Species Types
Scientific Name
Tetragnatha spp.
Description
Longjawed orbweavers are called stretch spiders because they rest with their legs stretched straight out in front of and behind their slender bodies. They build their circular webs horizontally, within a few feet above the surface of a stream or lake.
Media
image of greenbottle fly on carcass
Species Types
Scientific Name
About 84 species in North America.
Description
Many blow flies are so shiny and colorful they’re called greenbottles and bluebottles. But pretty as they are, it’s hard not to be repulsed by their larval diets.
Media
image of a Tree Cricket on a flower
Species Types
Scientific Name
About 20 species in North America in subfamily Oecanthinae
Description
Tree crickets, or pale bush crickets, are a subfamily of crickets that are little seen but often heard. True to their name, instead of living on the ground, they live in trees, bushes, and tall herbaceous plants.
Media
image of a Carolina Grasshopper
Species Types
Scientific Name
Dissosteira carolina
Description
The Carolina grasshopper is frequently seen in dusty, open habitats like dirt roads and vacant lots. Its yellow-bordered, black hindwings make it look like a mourning cloak butterfly.
Media
Male eastern Hercules beetle walking in grass
Species Types
Scientific Name
Dynastes tityus
Description
The eastern Hercules beetle is a breathtaking animal. Like its Greek-hero namesake, it is big and strong. Males have horns; females do not. Hercules beetles are harmless to people.
Media
Photo of a Hine's emerald dragonfly
Species Types
Scientific Name
Somatochlora hineana
Description
The Hine's emerald dragonfly is a federally endangered species. It has a dark emerald-green thorax and two yellow stripes on its sides. It lives in calcareous spring-fed marshes and sedge meadows overlaying dolomite bedrock.
Media
Photo of a giant walkingstick
Species Types
Scientific Name
Megaphasma denticrus
Description
The giant walkingstick is the largest insect in North America, with females up to 7 inches long. The middle and hind legs have spines. Males have a single, large spine on each hind leg.
Media
Photo of walkingsticks during outbreak
Species Types
Scientific Name
Diapheromera femorata
Description
The northern walkingstick is Missouri's most common species of walkingstick. It is perfectly camouflaged for a life in trees and shrubs. They not only look like twigs but also sway their bodies to mimic the motion of branches in a breeze.
Media
Pale green assassin bug on a leaf
Species Types
Scientific Name
Zelus luridus
Description
The pale green assassin bug, Zelus luridus, is one of nearly 200 species of assassin bugs in North America. Like other assassin bugs, it is a predator that captures and eats other insects.
See Also
Media
Photo of a Yellow-Collared Scape Moth
Species Types
Scientific Name
Cisseps fulvicollis
Description
The yellow-collared scape moth is more often “orange-collared.” And whether you think it looks more like a firefly or a wasp, it’s still a moth!
Media
image of Plume Moth on blade of grass
Species Types
Scientific Name
Nearly 150 species in North America north of Mexico
Description
Slim, delicate plume moths are instantly recognizable by their T-shaped silhouette, long legs, and muted shades of tan and brown. It can be hard to separate the various species.
Media
Photo of an Isabella Tiger Moth
Species Types
Scientific Name
Pyrrharctia isabella
Description
Not many people know the adult Isabella tiger moth when they see one, but we’re all acquainted with its caterpillar, the woolly worm, or woolly bear.

About Land Invertebrates in Missouri

Invertebrates are animals without backbones, including earthworms, slugs, snails, and arthropods. Arthropods—invertebrates with “jointed legs” — are a group of invertebrates that includes crayfish, shrimp, millipedes, centipedes, mites, spiders, and insects. There may be as many as 10 million species of insects alive on earth today, and they probably constitute more than 90 percent all animal species.