Peter Convey

Nematodes might be stretching things a bit for an insect week! But they are an important part of the Antarctic fauna, along with other microscopic soil animals such as tardigrades and rotifers. The springtails and mites I’ve previously talked about are certainly the most obvious animals you will come across in the areas that most people get the chance to visit the Antarctic continent – near the coast and the neighbouring islands where there is some decent vegetation. When you go inland things rapidly become far more barren to the eye, if still spectacular – the photo here is of an area of the Pensacola Mountains at about 83 degrees south. This is one of a number of places where no insects or other arthropods appear to be capable of existing. But that does not mean there is no life, and a few species of tardigrade and rotifer make up the animal community. Elsewhere, these are joined by nematode worms, and these are some of the simplest animal communities known from anywhere on the planet.