Bugs Countby the Natural History Museum

Invertebrate Picture Quiz

© OPAL 2011. All rights reserved. Photos by Harry Taylor unless stated otherwise

• Each slide shows examples of a different group of terrestrial invertebrate

• Look carefully at the images on each slide and try to identify the group of invertebrates they belong to

• Click on each slide to reveal the answer, along with key identification features

(images are not to scale)

1. Snails (no legs)

Hard, coiled shell

Soft, slimy body

1.

Photo credit: Roy Anderson

2. Slugs (no legs)

Soft, slimy body, without a coiled shell

2.

3. Earthworms (no legs)3.

Long, thin body divided into many segments (‘rings’)

Thickened band (saddle) in adults

4. Beetles (6 legs)

Biting mouthparts

Hard wing-cases, meeting in a T-shape

4.

5. True bugs (6 legs)

Very variable group - includes the tiny aphids

Wing-cases, usually meet in an X- or Y-shape

5.

Piercing/sucking mouthparts (held underneath head)

6. True flies (6 legs)

Antennae often very short

One pair of wings

6.

7. Bees, wasps & ants (6 legs)

Long antennae

7.

Bees (hairy)

Wasp(not hairy)

Ant

Two pairs of wings, but this is hard to see!

8. Butterflies & moths (6 legs)

Long antennae

Two pairs of wings (almost always coloured)

8.

9. Grasshoppers & crickets (6 legs)

Cricket - very long antennae

Long back legs for jumping

9.

Grasshopper - short antennae

10. Earwigs (6 legs)

Long, narrow brown body

Pincer-shaped claspers (‘cerci’)

10.

11. Spiders (8 legs)

Body clearly divided into two parts

11.

12. Harvestmen (8 legs)

Long, thin legs

One obvious body part

12.

13. Woodlice (>8 legs)

Oval shaped body, divided into many segments

13.

7 pairs of legs

14. Centipedes (>8 legs)14.

One pair of legs per body segment

Usually orange or yellow

Long, thin body, many segments

15. Millipedes (>8 legs)

Two pairs of legs per body segment

Body divided into many segments

16. Insect larvae (young)

Bugs Count Invertebrate Picture Quiz - answers

Slide number Invertebrate group

1 Snails (Molluscs: Gastropoda)

2 Slugs (Molluscs: Gastropoda)

3 Earthworms (Annelida)

4 Beetles (Insects: Coleoptera)

5 True bugs (Insects: Hemiptera)

6 True flies (Insects: Diptera)

7 Bees, wasps and ants (Insects: Hymenoptera)

8 Butterflies and moths (Insects: Lepidoptera)

9 Crickets & grasshoppers (Insects: Orthoptera)

10 Earwigs (Insects: Dermaptera)

11 Spiders (Arachnids: Araneae)

12 Harvestmen (Arachnids: Opiliones)

13 Woodlice (Crustaceans: Isopoda)

14 Centipedes (Chilopoda)

15 Millipedes (Diplopoda)

16 Insect larvae (various insect groups)