In the context of
ecological literacy
Ecological literacy (also referred to as ''ecoliteracy'') is the ability to understand the systems ecology, natural systems that make life on earth possible. To be ecoliterate means understanding the principles of organization of ecological communi ...
,
arthropods
Arthropods ( ) are invertebrates in the phylum Arthropoda. They possess an arthropod exoskeleton, exoskeleton with a cuticle made of chitin, often Mineralization (biology), mineralised with calcium carbonate, a body with differentiated (Metam ...
and other small
invertebrates
Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordate subphylum ...
are often referred to by informal names such as minibeasts, bugs, creepy crawlies (-ie and -y in the singular), or minifauna (contrasting with
megafauna
In zoology, megafauna (from Ancient Greek, Greek μέγας ''megas'' "large" and Neo-Latin ''fauna'' "animal life") are large animals. The precise definition of the term varies widely, though a common threshold is approximately , this lower en ...
). The term is used for
spider
Spiders (order (biology), order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight limbs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude spider silk, silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and ran ...
s,
insect
Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...
s,
woodlice
Woodlice are terrestrial isopods in the suborder Oniscidea. Their name is derived from being often found in old wood, and from louse, a parasitic insect, although woodlice are neither parasitic nor insects.
Woodlice evolved from marine isopods ...
,
centipedes
Centipedes (from Neo-Latin , "hundred", and Latin language, Latin , "foot") are predatory arthropods belonging to the class Chilopoda (Ancient Greek , ''kheilos'', "lip", and Neo-Latin suffix , "foot", describing the forcipules) of the subphyl ...
,
slugs
Slug, or land slug, is a common name for any apparently shell-less terrestrial gastropod mollusc. The word ''slug'' is also often used as part of the common name of any gastropod mollusc that has no shell, a very reduced shell, or only a sma ...
,
snails
A snail is a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial molluscs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class Gas ...
,
worm
Worms are many different distantly related bilateria, bilateral animals that typically have a long cylindrical tube-like body, no limb (anatomy), limbs, and usually no eyes.
Worms vary in size from microscopic to over in length for marine ...
s and many other animals.
Definition
The
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
–based Young People's Charitable Trust defines them as "small animals" in a factsheet written for young readers. There is a "Minibeast Zooseum" in Michigan dedicated to invertebrates.
Minibeasts, as indicated by their name, are generally miniature compared to pets and livestock that people are more often familiar with. The study of minibeasts is common as part of the primary school curriculum. Studying minibeasts is a very effective way to observe many biological concepts first hand, which is not possible with many larger animals. Life cycles, food chains, and bodily structure and function are just some of the basic elements of biological science which can be easily explained using minibeasts. "Bugs Alive!" at Melbourne Museum features a huge number of live minibeasts with detailed information about them, while services such as "Minibeast Wildlife" and "Travelbugs"
take live minibeasts to school and provide educational resources.
See also
*
Damned yellow composite—Numerous difficult-to-identify dandelion-like plants
*
Little brown bird
*
Little brown mushroom—Difficult-to-identify mushrooms
*
Small shelly fauna
The small shelly fauna, small shelly fossils (SSF), or early skeletal fossils (ESF) are mineralized fossils, many only a few millimetres long, with a nearly continuous record from the latest stages of the Ediacaran to the end of the Early Cambri ...
References
External links
National Curriculum in Action��Minibeast Tree Diagrams
��Minibeast Ride, with National Curriculum considerations
Minibeast Wildlife��Minibeast education, resources, and photographs
Melbourne Museum - Bugs Alive!��Resources, exhibition information, interactive web games
Travelbugs��Mobile minibeast education
category:arthropods and humans
category:science education
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