Land based (terrestrial) invertebrates

Invertebrates (especially insects) are everywhere and in very large numbers. They are essential in recycling dead material and in the pollination of flowering plants. They form one of the primary steps in the food chain, and many of our mammals and birds depend on them as food to some degree.

The health of the environment and the very survival of humans depend on invertebrates, and for those reasons the biologist Edward O. Wilson called them "the little things that rule the world".

There are at least 14,000 species of insects in Scotland, not including all the other invertebrate groups such as spiders, worms, slugs and snails, crabs and lobsters. A number of our species occur nowhere else in the world, these are known as endemic species.

Scotland is unique within the British isles in having a large proportions of boreal (northern or Scandinavian) insect species that are associated with our mountains, peatlands and native woodlands of pine, aspen and birch. In many aspects Highland insects in particular show greater affinity to those in countries such as Norway and Sweden rather than with other parts of the British isles.

Some species are naturally scarce, but many have became rare because of habitat loss or fragmentation. The diversity of invertebrates on agricultural land has been greatly affected by modern agricultural techniques.

Bees, wasps and ants

Ants, bees, wasps and sawflies. Many species are social, such as honeybees and ants. Bees, especially, are well known for pollinating agricultural crops.

Beetles

Of the 900,000 or so known species of invertebrates, about 29,000 are beetles (seven times the number of species of vertebrates put together)

Butterflies and moths

One of the most attractive invertebrate groups, easily recognisable.

Flies

Flies (including gnats, midges and mosquitoes) are known to all of us. Many more play essential roles in maintaining our ecosystem.

Slugs and snails

All have interesting life styles and display ingenious adaptations for living in the most diverse habitats.

Worms

Some worms keep the soil healthy, others attack plants in the garden, and one can be used as an aid in the surgery table...

Spiders, mites and ticks

These are eight-legged invertebrates. Spiders are notorious predators, while ticks are parasites.

Other land based invertebrates

Some species you may never have seen or even heard about, but there are thousands of other types of invertebrate in Scotland.