Land Invertebrates
Media
Species Types
Scientific Name
Ammophila spp.
Description
There are more than 60 species of ammophila wasps in North America. They tend to be black, with orange on the abdomen. They are but one genus in the thread-waisted wasp family.
Media
Species Types
Scientific Name
About 300 species in North America north of Mexico
Description
People notice spider wasps when they notice a female lugging a captured spider to its doom. In most cases, she will drag the spider into a burrow, lay an egg on the spider, and then hunt for more spiders!
Media
Species Types
Scientific Name
Vespula spp.
Description
Yellowjackets are bee-sized social wasps that build paper nests, usually underground. Their defensive stinging can make them a major pest when they nest near people.
Media
Species Types
Scientific Name
Three genera: Sceliphron, Trypoxylon, and Chalybion
Description
Mud daubers are among the most familiar solitary wasps. They belong to a number of related groups, but we call them all "mud daubers" because they all build their nests out of mud. One way to tell the different mud daubers apart is by the distinctive architecture they use.
Media
Species Types
Scientific Name
Nearly 500 species in North America north of Mexico
Description
Velvet ants are not true ants. True ants are social insects, while velvet ants are a group of solitary wasps. Female velvet ants are wingless throughout their lives; males are winged.
Media
Species Types
Scientific Name
Sphex pensylvanicus
Description
A strikingly large black wasp with smoky black wings that shine with blue iridescence, the great black wasp is often seen busily eating nectar and pollen from flowers in summertime.
Media
Species Types
Scientific Name
Dolichovespula maculata
Description
Bald-faced hornets are fairly large social wasps. They are mostly black, with white or ivory markings on the face, thorax, and toward the tip of the abdomen. They make large, rounded, papery, gray nests, usually in trees and shrubs.
Media
Species Types
Scientific Name
About 80 species in North America
Description
Mydas flies are quite large, and although they resemble wasps, they are harmless. Note that all true flies have only one pair of wings. Also note the clubbed antennae (unusual for flies).
Media
Species Types
Scientific Name
Nearly 900 species in North America
Description
Harmless flies and valuable pollinators, flower flies are incredibly convincing mimics of bees, wasps, and yellowjackets. Recognize them as true flies by their single pair of wings, short antennae, and flylike compound eyes.
Media
Species Types
Scientific Name
About 800 species in North America
Description
Resembling bees, or sometimes big, fuzzy mosquitoes, bee flies are a family of true flies and are not bees at all. Lacking the ability to sting, their bee mimicry helps them avoid many would-be predators.
See Also
Media
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
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
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.