Types of Minibeasts
What do you already know about minibeasts?
Minibeasts is a word to describe all the smallest creatures that live on Earth, and there are a lot of them. In fact there are more minibeasts than any other type of creature in the world. Minibeasts can be found in almost every habitat you can think of. They are incredibly important to almost all ecosystems. Minibeasts pollinate plants, help create food, break down waste, and are even important food for other animals to eat. Without minibeasts humans wouldn’t survive!
Minibeasts can often be found in a micro habitats. These are small spaces within a bigger habitat where lots of minibeasts like to live. Examples of micro habitats are under a log or a pile of dead leaves.
All the different minibeasts in the world are invertebrates. This means that they don’t have a backbone or skeleton inside their bodies.
Some of these invertebrates have other ways to support or protect their bodies. They have a hard outer shell, called an exoskeleton, to protect themselves. These creatures as well as being invertebrates are also called arthropods. Arthropods, as well as having an exoskeleton have a body split up into segments and legs and antennae that are jointed.
Minibeasts that are simply invertebrates are molluscs and annelids. Minibeasts that are invertebrates and arthropods are insects, arachnids, crustaceans and myriapods. Don’t know what some of those are? Well lets find out…
Insects
Insects are the most common creature on Earth. They can be found almost anywhere. Insects include minibeasts like ants, bees, wasps, flies, ladybirds, beetles, dragonflies and butterflies.Â
Insects bodies have three parts, its head, a thorax, which is the middle part, and an abdomen at the end of its body. They have what is called an exoskeleton on the outside of their bodies, which is a hard coating to protect their bodies. All insects have six jointed legs, which are attached to the thorax. Some insects have wings so they can fly. They have antennae on their head which they use feeling and smelling the world around them. Insects have excellent eyesight and have many lenses in their eyes to help them see very clearly, humans only have one lens in our eyes.
Look at the different insects, can you spot the different body parts they have? What about their jointed legs? What else do you notice?
Crustaceans
Woodlice are land based crustaceans. They are a bit like crabs and lobsters. They have a hard shell that is broken up into plates covering and protecting their body. They have fourteen legs and two antennae to help them feel their way around. Although they spend all their time on land, they breathe through gills like some sea creatures do. They need to live in damp places because of this.
Arachnids
Spiders are arachnids. Another type of arachnid is a scorpion. They have two parts to their bodies, its cephalothorax which is at the front of their bodies and its abdomen which is at the end. Arachnids have an exoskeleton to protect its body. They have eight legs which are attached to the thorax and no antennae. Spiders spin webs to catch their prey and then use their fangs to attack them once caught.
Myriapods
Minibeasts that are myriapods are centipedes and millipedes. They have an exoskeleton like most other minibeasts to protect their bodies. Myriapods have antennae which they use for feeling and smelling what is around them. Centipedes and millipedes have bodies made up of lots of sections. Each section has one or two pairs of legs attached to it (centipedes have one pair of legs per section, millipedes have two). Different myriapods have different numbers of legs. The smallest amount is probably those that have five pairs of legs, which means they have ten legs altogether. The most amount of legs myriapods have is one hundred pairs of legs, two hundred in total.
Gastropods and Annelids
Snails and slugs are types of mollusks, called gastropods. Worms are annelids. These minibeasts don’t have an exoskeleton to protect their soft bodies but snails do have a hard shell that they can use to protect themselves.
Snails and slugs move very slowly using their flat ‘foot’ on the bottom of their body. They make a slimy fluid that helps their foot glide. They like to spend their time in dark damp places but will venture out further when it is raining.
Worms have soft bodies too. Most of a worm’s body consists of small segments, which makes it look like it is made up of lots of rings. Worms spend a lot of time underground. They prefer damp conditions so they can absorb oxygen through their skin.
What we've learnt...
All minibeasts are invertebrates and don’t have a backbone.
Lots of minibeasts have an exoskeleton, which is a shell on the outside of their body.
Insects are the most common type of minibeast. They have three parts to their body, six legs and they sometimes have wings too.
Arachnids are minibeasts that have eight legs and two parts to their bodies.
There are more minibeasts than any other group of creatures on Earth. They are incredibly important and our planet wouldn’t be the same without them!
Test your knowledge...
Minibeast Quiz
If you click the correct answer the box will turn green. If its the wrong answer it will turn red and then show you what the correct answer was. Make sure you read/listen to the questions carefully!
#1. Could humans survive without minibeasts?
#2. How many legs do insects have?
#3. How many legs does an arachnid have?
#4. Can some insects fly?
#5. Are minibeasts…
Results
I really hope you have enjoyed learning all about the different types of minibeasts, with me Flash!
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