| How to find your way around: below is a long list of types of freshwater invertebrates in Britain. The names are given both in Latin and in English. We have created fact sheets for many of the most popular species - including mayflies, dragonflies, stoneflies and caddisflies- to access these either click on the name below or use the left hand navigation bar. Some freshwater invertebrates also live part of their life cycle as terrestrial invertebrates so they may be filed under ‘terrestrial invertebrates’ in the navigation bar. |
Types of Freshwater Invertebrates in Britain
This lists includes all the types of invertebrates occurring in rivers, streams, ditches, ponds, lakes and groundwater.
Italics = groups that are non-native, but established in the UK.
Bold = Phylum (and subphylum)
Normal font = Class
Indented font = Order
Double indent = Sub order
Protozoa
Porifera
Demospongiae (common sponges)
Cnidaria
Hydrozoa (polyps and hydras)
Scyphozoa (jellyfish)
Platyhelminthes (flatworms)
Turbellaria (free-living flatworms)
Monogenea (flukes)
Trematoda (flukes)
Cestoda (tapeworms)
Gastrotricha (gastrotrichans)
Nemertea/Nemertini (ribbon and bootlace worms)
Nematoda (round-worms)
Cephalorhyncha
Nematomorpha (horsehair worms)
Rotifera (wheel animalcules)
Bdelloidea
Monogononta
Annelida (segmented worms)
Clitellata
Oligochaeta (earthworms and oligochaete worms)
Hirudinea (leeches)
Mollusca
Gastropoda (snails)
Bivalvia (bivalves)
Arthropoda
Crustacea
- Branchiopoda (tadpole shrimps, water fleas, etc.)
- Branchiura (fish lice)
- Copepoda (copepods)
- Ostracoda (ostracods)
- Malacostraca
- Decapoda (crabs and lobsters)
- Isopoda (isopods)
- Amphipoda (shrimps)
- Bathynellacea
- Mysidacea (opossum shrimps or mysids)
Chelicerata
- Arachnida
- Aranea (spiders)
- Acariformes (mites)
Tardigrada (water-bears)
Pentastoma (tongue-worms)
Insecta (insects)
- Nematocera (craneflies, midges, etc)
Brachycera (hoverflies, etc.)
Bryozoa (moss animalcules)
Phylactolaemata
