Land Invertebrates
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Species Types
Scientific Name
Vespa crabro
Description
The European hornet is a large, nonnative hornet that was introduced to New York in the mid-1800s. They now occur across most of the eastern United States, including Missouri. People may misidentify them as the highly publicized, so-called murder hornets.
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Scientific Name
About 300 species globally
Description
True velvet mites: You’ve probably seen these small, velvety, bright red mites creeping around on rocks, plant containers, tree trunks, or on the ground, especially after a rain. Be not afraid! They are harmless — to people.
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Species Types
Scientific Name
About 11 species in North America north of Mexico
Description
Mantidflies look like a cross between a lacewing insect and a praying mantis. They are small, delicate creatures with intricately veined wings, but the front half looks like a mantid, complete with raptorial forelegs.
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Scientific Name
More than 40 species in 3 genera in North America north of Mexico
Description
Ebony bugs are definitely true bugs, but they look a lot like tiny, shiny black beetles. Their bodies are fat ovals. They’re almost always seen on flower clusters and immature seeds, often on members of the carrot or parsley family.
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Species Types
Scientific Name
About 175 species in North America
Description
Earthworms are familiar to just about everyone who digs in the soil. They play a major role in the nutrient cycling and structure of soils. There are many species. The most familiar ones in Missouri are nonnative.
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Scientific Name
Pselliopus barberi
Description
The orange assassin bug, Pselliopus barberi, is about ½ inch long and is one of our most attractive non-butterfly insects. They overwinter in groups as adults under loose bark.
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Species Types
Scientific Name
About 30 species in North America north of Mexico
Description
Members of the pygmy grasshopper family are small and have a distinctively elongated pronotum — this plate, which only covers the shoulders of most other grasshoppers, extends back to cover the abdomen in this family. Most live along streams and in other wet habitats.
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Species Types
Scientific Name
Canthon spp.
Description
Tumblebugs in genus Canthon are usually seen on, near, and beneath poop. They are sometimes seen rolling dung balls away from the original heap, heads down and pushing the ball backward with their hind legs.
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Species Types
Scientific Name
About 1,700 species in North America north of Mexico
Description
The scarab beetle family is very large, with breathtaking variety — and often great beauty. Many scarabs are large and colorful.
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Scientific Name
Nemognatha spp.
Description
Nemognatha blister beetles are leathery beetles often seen visiting flowers. There are nearly 30 species in North America.
See Also
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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!
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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.
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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.