Land Invertebrates
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Species Types
Scientific Name
Agelenopsis spp.
Description
The funnel-shaped web of grass spiders is more often noticed than the spider itself. It is sheetlike, usually positioned horizontally, with a funnel leading downward to a shelter (a rock crevice or dense vegetation) where the spider hides, waiting for prey.
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Pholcus, Psilochorus, and others in the Pholcid family
Description
Cellar spiders look wispy with their incredibly long, thin legs and habit of bouncing rapidly in their cobwebs when disturbed, which turns them into a blur. Some species are very common in homes.
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Scientific Name
About 6,500 species have been named so far, worldwide.
Description
Daddy longlegs, or harvestmen, are familiar Missouri animals. They are not spiders, but opilionids. Unlike spiders, they have a fused body form and lack silk and venom glands.
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Scientific Name
Neriene radiata (formerly Prolinyphia marginata)
Description
The filmy dome spider is one of the most abundant woodland spiders in Missouri. Although the spider is tiny, its snare web, which looks like an upside-down silk bowl, is conspicuous throughout the year.
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Scientific Name
Micrathena gracilis
Description
The color pattern can vary, but the ten-spined, chunky abdomen sets the female spined micrathena apart from all other spiders.
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About 165 species in North American north of Mexico
Description
Grayish, small, flattened, and rectangular, lace bugs have a lacy network of ridges on the wings and body. They suck nutrients from foliage with their beaks. The resulting pale spots on leaves might be the first sign of their presence.
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Scientific Name
About 300 species in North America north of Mexico
Description
Tephretid fruit flies, in the family Tephritidae, are often called peacock flies for the intricately patterned, often brightly colored wings of many species.
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Approx. 150 species of land snails and slugs in Missouri
Description
Most people know land snails and slugs when they see these interesting animals. Missouri has about 150 species in 25 families.
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About 50 species of mosquitoes in Missouri
Description
Mosquitoes are small flies that look a lot like their cousins in the fly family, the crane flies and midges. Female mosquitoes, however, drink blood from vertebrate animals.
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Scientific Name
More than 8,000 species globally
Description
Springtails, like insects, have six legs, but these tiny rounded, oval, or elongated creatures that hop quickly into the air are not insects. They have a separate lineage and many structural differences.
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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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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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.