CLASSIFYING ARTHROPODS

Why Isn't a Spider, A Tick, or a Crayfish an Insect?

Another page shows what all arthropods have in common

Here's how to tell them apart:

• Insects (beetles, crickets, butterflies, ants, etc.)

3 body regions
3 pairs of legs
1 pair of antennae

• Arachnids (spiders, scorpions, mites, ticks, daddy long-legs)

1 or 2 body regions
4 pairs of legs
No antennae

• Crustaceans (crabs, shrimps, barnacles, sow bugs, lobsters)

2 body regions
5+ pairs of legs
2 pairs of antennae

• Centipedes

1 pair of legs per segment
1 pair of antennae

• Millipedes

2 pairs of legs per segment
1 pair of antennae

To learn more about arthropods after traveling through our virtual arthropod zoo, check out more Sonoran Arthropod Studies Institute Web Pages!

---

Start of Zoo | More Arthropod Pages (outside zoo)

---