Swords, Lances, Arrows, Machine-guns and even High Explosives have had far less power over the fate of nations than the Typhus Louse, The Plague Flea and the Yellow Fever Mosquito.
Civilisations have retreated from the Plasmodium of Malaria and armies have crumbled into rabbles under the onslaught of Cholera spirilla or of Dysentery and Typhoid bacilli.
Huge areas have been devastated by the Trypanosome that travels on the wings of the Tsetse Fly. ...War...Conquest...Civilisation have merely set the stage for these more powerful agents of human tragedy... Zinger, 1934
So what's is the fascination with Invertebrates? Well unlike cats and dogs at least you don't have to walk them(no leash is small enough!), they make little or no mess, the majority don't eat much and, if you do happen to get bored of them, you could always turn them into a Sunday Roast(Imagine if it's a large spider, everyone gets a leg apiece and the chances of you suffering salmonella poisoning is less than eating the dreaded chicken!).
So how did I get interested in Invertebrates? Well It happened by chance read on... As part of my job I educate others about the nasty's that may come to meet and greet them if they happen to be in the wrong place at the right time! I also deal with certain elements of pest control such as controlling or eliminating pests associated with damage or disease (Mice, Rats,Cockroaches etc get the picture?). Although the vast majority of invertebrates are harmless to man, there are plenty others that may go out their way to cause you a bad hair day. Take for example the humble female mosquito she's only a few millimetres in size but she's the No1 killer of the insect world. Did you know that if she didn't blood feed then she couldn't produce eggs and eventually the species would die out? "Not a bad thing" I hear you say, but everything has a purpose here on earth, it's just some you have to figure out why!
All invertebrates share one thing in common they have no backbone. Their internal organs are held in place by an exoskeleton (a hard crispy shell just like an M&M).
Creatures that can be classed as "Invertebrates" include Insects and Arachnids (spider like things).
People who make a living out of studying things such as insects are called ENTOMOLOGISTS (or Spotters!).Although technically Entomologists only study insects, there are some who get bored with the infinate variety of insects and also study other things such as spiders, millipedes, centipedes and other cuddly creatures.
Insects have 6 legs, Arachnid adults have 8!
Insects have wings (usually, but not always), Arachnids have none.
Insects have antennae, Arachnids don't!
Insects have compound (many lensed) eyes and simple eyes, Arachnids only have simple eyes.
Insect bodies are broken into 3 parts HEAD, THORAX & ABDOMEN, Arachnids bodies are broken into 2 main parts CEPHALOTHORAX(fused head/thorax) and the ABDOMEN.
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