It\u2019s time to vote for the 2026 invertebrate of the year. For the third year running, we\u2019ve been profilng some of the most spectacular, fascinating and yet overlooked inhabitants of our planet; the huge category of animals (more than 1.3million different species) that have no spine. This group includes all sorts of creatures from jellyfish to bumblebees via parasites, spiders and worms. They carry out some of the most critical functions at the very base of all of our ecosystems, but it\u2019s the vertebrates – pandas, lions, whales – that scoop up everyone\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n
Please vote for your favourite from these amazing species … or if you don\u2019t have time to vote, just don\u2019t forget to look down, or up, or under a stone or into a pond; some of the most marvellous creatures you\u2019ve never heard of may be a few millimetres away.<\/p>\n
Readers have nominated thousands of amazing animals, we\u2019ve chosen a shortlist of 10, and now you can vote for your favourite until midnight on Sunday 16 August. The winner will be announced on Tuesday 18 August.<\/p>\n
1. The common woodlouse<\/a> \u2013 a detritivore with unexpected superpowers.<\/p>\n 2. The immortal jellyfish<\/a> can turn back into a baby jellyfish and grow up again.<\/p>\n 3. The leaf sheep<\/a> \u2013 the irresistibly cute solar-powered sea slug.<\/p>\n 4. The greengrocer cicada<\/a> can top 120 decibels and nearly break the pain threshold.<\/p>\n 5. The Lord Howe Island stick insect<\/a> \u2013 the giant stick insect that proves it\u2019s not over till we give up.<\/p>\n 6. The wandering glider<\/a> – the dragonfly that migrates further than any other insect.<\/p>\n 7. The moscard\u00f3n bumblebee<\/a> \u2013 the giant panda of the insect world.<\/p>\n 8. The bootlace worm<\/a> whose mucus could be the basis of new insecticides.<\/p>\n 9. The horseshoe crab<\/a> \u2013 the blue-blood arthropod that has changed little in 445m years.<\/p>\n 10. The neon flying squid<\/a> that fly in formation above the ocean.<\/p>\n Vote here<\/p>\n You can vote using this form.\u00a0The winner will be announced on Tuesday 18 August.<\/p>\n Your responses, which can be anonymous, are secure as the form is encrypted and only the Guardian has access to your contributions. We will only use the data you provide us for the purpose of the feature and we will delete any personal data when we no longer require it for this purpose. For alternative ways to get in touch securely please see our tips guide<\/a>.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re having trouble using the form click here<\/a>. Read terms of service here<\/a> and privacy policy here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s time to vote for the 2026 invertebrate of the year. For the third year running, we\u2019ve been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":812476,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[79],"class_list":["post-812475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=812475"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812475\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/812476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=812475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=812475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=812475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}