Field Guide

Land Invertebrates

Showing 11 - 20 of 21 results
Media
Photo of a meloe blister beetle, female, on ground
Species Types
Scientific Name
More than 400 species in North America north of Mexico
Description
The name is a warning: blister beetles are famous for their chemical defenses. Beetles in this family can exude an oil that can cause a person’s skin to blister.
Media
Click beetle resting on a brick wall
Species Types
Scientific Name
Approximately 1,000 species in North America
Description
Their streamlined shape is distinctive, but the behavior of click beetles is even more unique: Placed on their backs, these beetles flip suddenly into the air with an audible click.
Media
image of Soldier Beetle on Goldenrod
Species Types
Scientific Name
Nearly 500 species in North America north of Mexico
Description
Soldier beetles are most often seen on flowers. Many species in this family are pollinators. Yellow, orange, and red are their most common colors, besides black and brown.
Media
image of a bronzed or common shore tiger beetle
Species Types
Scientific Name
Cinindela repanda
Description
The bronzed tiger beetle is usually seen patrolling the shores of creeks, rivers, and other bodies of water, in open areas with sand, gravel, or clay soils.
Media
image of Rhubarb Weevils mating
Species Types
Scientific Name
Lixus concavus
Description
The rhubarb weevil has a dusty, bright yellow coating and feeds on rhubarb, dock, thistles, and other plants in the smartweed or buckwheat and sunflower families.
Media
image of Nut Weevil on wood
Species Types
Scientific Name
Curculio spp.
Description
Nut and acorn weevils, in genus Curculio, have very long, narrow beaks and chunky bodies. Females bore tiny holes into developing acorn, hickory, or other nuts, and deposit their eggs within.
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
Flat-faced longhorn beetle crawling on wood
Species Types
Scientific Name
Acanthoderes quadrigibba
Description
The four-humped flat-faced longhorn has no true common name, but its markings are distinctive. It plays an important role in breaking down rotten wood and enriching soils.
Media
Ivory-marked beetle crawling on bark
Species Types
Scientific Name
Eburia quadrigeminata
Description
The ivory-marked beetle is a longhorned beetle whose larvae bore deep into the heartwood of a variety of deciduous trees, including oak, hickory, maple, cherry, ash, elm, and more. It can live for 40 years.
Media
Rove beetle, Platydracus sp., viewed from above
Species Types
Scientific Name
More than 4,400 species in North America north of Mexico
Description
Rove beetles usually have very short wing covers, so several of their hind abdominal segments are exposed. Typically fast movers, they often flip up their abdomen tips when frightened. This is a huge family of beetles.
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.