Do you know your hoverfly from your harvestman?
New bugs app launched by the Natural History Museum and OPAL
Are beetles true bugs? And is that eight-legged creature lurking in your bathroom really a spider? An incredible 96% of all known animals are invertebrates, but very few of us can identify a cricket from a grasshopper. Get to know some of Britain’s bugs and help scientists discover more about our environment with the Natural History Museum and OPAL’s new Bugs Count app. From tiny insect larvae to leggy harvestmen, the app gives you the chance to get to know British wildlife while helping scientists track down six of Britain’s most wanted bugs.
Featuring guides to the most common groups of bugs, including slugs, beetles, spiders and bees, whether you’re walking in the countryside, or waiting for a bus in the city centre, you can identify what’s lurking beneath your feet.
The app also gives you the chance to take part in the unique Species Quest. Take a photo and send it straight to the website, to help scientists track the movement of some of our most intriguing crawlies: the devil’s coach horse beetle, tree bumblebee, two spot ladybird, leopard slug, green shieldbug and small tortoiseshell butterfly.
The free app, available for iPhone and selected Android, supports the OPAL Bugs Count survey, which asks people to hunt their local area for minibeasts to help scientists understand more about how our bugs are affected by spreading towns and cities. Around 500, 000 bugs have been counted so far.
Lucy Carter, OPAL Biodiversity Scientist, comments, ‘It’s so exciting that the British public have counted over half a million bugs for us already. It just goes to show how many fascinating invertebrates are living right alongside us. These records will really help us with our research. The new app’s a fun way to discover British wildlife and take part in a nationwide scientific study at the same time. I hope everyone will download it and learn to love bugs as much as we do!’
Data from the OPAL Bugs Count Survey will be uploaded to the NBN Gateway in due course.
Data from the OPAL earthworm survey is now available from the NBN Gateway.
