Overview – Arthropoda

Arthropods, the topic of this website

Arthropods, scientifically known as Arthropoda, include the well-known insects, spiders, millipedes, and crabs. This website is exclusively dedicated to arthropods, of which I present my photographs here. Arthropods are a very broad group, encompassing the vast majority of all species on this planet.

All species of the earth

Outlined based on rough and varying estimates of species numbers. Currently, approximately 2.2 million species have been described. Estimates suggest several million undescribed species.

Current status of this website

My website currently displays 69,330 photos of approximately 4,450 species. These photos were primarily taken in southern Germany, but there are also images from other regions. All recorded species and higher taxa can be looked up in an index. In keeping with the focus of this work, the Red Lists of Germany, Bavaria, and Baden-Württemberg are taken into account. New additions of species and photos to this website can also be viewed.

Latest news

These are the three most recent entries; here is the complete history of news.

08/03/2026 – New additions from August 2025

The following species are newly added:
The rove beetle

Stenus comma

, the hoverfly

Xylota florum

, the family

Meniscus midges Dixidae

, the pyralid moths

Crambus silvella

RL V and

Dolicharthria punctalis

, as well as the shore bug

Macrosaldula scotica

.
In addition, three Kenyan owlet moths are reported as re-identifications, namely

Hypena obsitalis

Pale brown lines Mocis conveniens

and

Wavy False-thorn Plecoptera arctinotata

21/02/2026 – First additions from Peiting and improvements

The following species have been added:
the rove beetles

Stenus nigritulus

and

Paederidus rubrothoracicus

, as well as the hoverfly

Aspen hoverfly Hammerschmidtia ferruginea

, which has been re-identified.
In addition, I have reorganized the existing

Mayflies Ephemeroptera

and assigned them, at least to a large extent, to families, resulting in the inclusion of the following new families:

Prong-gilled mayflies Leptophlebiidae

Spiny crawler mayflies Ephemerellidae

, and

Primitive minnow mayflies Siphlonuridae

.
Over the past few months since the relaunch, I have also made improvements to the website. These included visible changes, such as newly added graphics and statistics, as well as numerous minor bug fixes.