Montserrat's invertebrates
What are invertebrates?
Invertebrates are animals who don’t have backbones and skulls. Most animals are invertebrates!
Invertebrates are very diverse. They live on land, in fresh water, and the sea.
Explore the galleries below to find out more about Montserrat’s invertebrates.
Activity: Invertebrate classification
Find out about invertebrate diversity (Grades 1-3)
Activity: Invertebrates and Vertebrates
What's the difference? (Grades 1-3)
Insects
Lots of insects live in Montserrat! Insects all have six legs, and include animals like butterflies, bees, and dragonflies. Most insects can fly. Some live on land, and some live in fresh water.
Many insects are important pollinators; lots of plants need them to make fruit and seeds. This means we need insects too; without them, we wouldn’t have many of the fruits and vegetables we eat. Insects are important food for other animals too.
Some insects feed on our crops, and can be a problem for farmers and gardeners. Insects that were introduced into Montserrat by people can be particularly harmful. Some scale insects, for example, can damage plants. Red Imported Fire Ants were introduced to Montserrat, and can harm us, and nesting birds.
Here are some of Montserrat's insects:
Butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera)
Activity: Colouring sheet
Butterflies
Activity: Colouring sheet
Polka-dot Wasp Moth
Activity: Colouring sheet
Angerona Hairstreak
Bees, wasps, and ants (Hymenoptera)
Activity: Colouring sheet
Bottle Bee
Activity: Colouring sheet
Caribbean Paper Wasp
Activity: Colouring sheet
Montserratian Wasps
Beetles (Coleoptera)
Flies (Diptera)
Bugs (Hemiptera)
Grasshoppers and crickets (Orthoptera)
Dragonflies and damselflies (Odonata)
Stick insects (Phasmatodea)
Cockroaches (Blattodea)
Arachnids
Arachnids are invertebrates with eight legs. Spiders, scorpions and ticks are all arachnids.
Most arachnids live on land. Some spiders make beautiful webs to catch food, like insects. Arachnids are food to lots of larger animals.
Ticks and mites are parasitic, so can be a problem for us, our pets, and farm animals.
Here are some of Montserrat's arachnids:
Crustaceans
Crustaceans are a really diverse group of invertebrates. They have special limbs that branch at the end, like the pincers of crabs.
Some live in the sea, like many crabs and lobsters, while others live on land or in fresh water. Many are important food for people and other animals.
Here are some of Montserrat's crustaceans:
Molluscs
Molluscs are shelled animals, like snails, clams, and squid. See if you can find any shells on the beach.
All molluscs have shells, but some, like slugs and squid, have them inside their bodies! Hermit crabs (which are crustaceans) use old mollusc shells to protect themselves.
Here are some of Montserrat's molluscs:
And more!
These are just some of the kinds of invertebrate that live in Montserrat. There are many more!
You may see the remains of other marine invertebrates washed up on the beach. Corals and starfish live in the sea, and many more tiny invertebrates live under our feet, or in the trees!
