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  • Phylum Arthropoda at over 1,110,000 described species worldwide (Stork 1997) is by far the most successful phylum in the animal kingdom.

  • 85% of all animals are arthropods.

  • Arthropods include insects, arachnids, crustaceans, millipedes, centipedes, and many other minor groups commonly referred to as "bugs".

  • Arthropods have many values to humans and the ecosystem, including pollinating flowers, decomposing dead animals and feces, controlling populations of "pest" species, providing food to other animals (and in some cases, food for humans), and being beautiful (such as butterflies).

  • Knowing more about arthropods helps insure that these valuable functions continue and help us to control the "pest" species, including those like mosquitoes and ticks that can transmit deadly human diseases.
 A female millipede (Narceus americanus) browses on moss growing on a log in Whiteoak Sink. It's compound eye may be seen just above the curled antenna on the lower part of the head.
A female millipede browses on moss.
Click photo to enlarge.
Photo by Charles Wilder.

Photo Class Common Name
Click photo to open page. Arachnida
 Spiders and Relatives
  Chilopoda
 Centipedes
Click photo to open page. Collembola
 Springtails
Diplopoda
 Millipedes
Click photo to open page. Insecta
 Insects
  Malacostraca
(Subphylum Crustacea)
 Crayfish, pill bugs, shrimp, and relatives