Though we love to focus on the vertebrates, more than 95% of the world’s known living creatures – at least 1.3m species – are spineless. These amazingly diverse animals include insects (at least a million), arachnids, snails, crustaceans, corals, jellyfish, sponges and echinoderms.
And now we want you to help us celebrate them.
This week, the Guardian natural history writer Patrick Barkham is launching a competition to highlight the rich diversity of invertebrate life found in Britain. Patrick has chosen a shortlist of 10 species for UK invertebrate of the year 2024. He’s picked a mixture of well known and more obscure invertebrates. Each nominee tells a story of a remarkable way of life and a way of surviving in the Anthropocene.
We know our selection represents just a tiny proportion of the abundance of spineless creatures on our islands, so we’re asking readers to nominate their UK invertebrate of the year and tell us the reasons why.
You have until midnight on Friday 12 April to submit your response. We will add the best to our shortlist and then you will have your chance to vote for the 11 finalists and choose a champion over the weekend. And on Monday 15 we will announce the winner and determine once and for all which UK invertebrate is best (or our favourite for 2024, anyway).
