INVERTEBRATE BIODIVERSITY 

All photos below are from living invertebrates obtained in Iowa.  Which ones live near you?
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freshwater sponge
 (left)   (right)		 nematomorph worm
 Animation: swimming		 bryozoa colony
freshwater sponge
Animation: water flow		 mermithid worms Animation: response to touch
freshwater sponge
gemmules hatching		 gastrotrich tardigrade (water bear)
sponge larva snail-eating leech tardigrade eggs
 in exoskeleton
reaggregated sponge gilled tubificid worm
 Animation: rapid escape		 fairy shrimp
freshwater jellyfish Lumbriculus variegatus
(blackworm, oligochaete)		 clam shrimp
hydra with gonads & ovum Lumbriculus tail
(oligochaete)
Animation: blood pulsations		 fish louse
hydra with many gonads Lumbriculus cocoons   copepod nauplius larva
Animation: copepod swim
hydra & buds (orange)
 hydra tentacles		 trematode-infected snail
 Animation: snail tentacles		 ostracod (seed shrimp)
Animation: ostracod swim
hydra eating a Lumbriculus fragment freshwater limpet amphipod (scud)
planarian
(eating Lumbriculus)		   snail development
Animation: snail heart beat		   crayfish escape reflexes
Animation: rx to head tap Animation: rx to tail tap
planarian cocoon   pond snail (albino strain)
Helisoma trivolvis		   pseudoscorpion
rhabdocoel flatworm   baby fingernail clams (L)
adult fingernail clam (R)		   bristletail (diplura)
land planarian   European red slug
(an accidental tourist)		   snailcase maker caddisfly
rotifer colony   bryozoan lophophore   praying mantis
nemertean worm   hatched statoblast
and new lophophore		   ichneumon wasp
more to come soon !   more to come soon !   return home  >>