Invertebrates make up around seven out of every ten species on the planet and are one of the essential building blocks for other lifeforms being amongst our most important decomposers creating nutrient rich soil, providing the essential service of pollination. They are worth well over a billion pounds per annum to the UK farming industry quite apart from providing the buzz of life.
Invertebrates are animals that do not have a backbone. There are seven groups of invertebrates: Insects, Arachnids, Molluscs, Annelids, Crustaceans, Echinoderms and Protozoa. Vertebrates by contrast are spilt into five groups: mammals, birds, amphibians and reptiles and fish.
This section provides some tips on finding and identifying invertebrates particularly in the UK as well as some more detailed pages on some of the 40,000 species you may encounter in house, garden, stream or seaside. New bugs are being added all the time if you want to get involved in this then consider joining Buglife as all our members get the opportunity to create bug profiles for the site.