When thinking of animals on Svalbard you first perhaps think of the big cuddly ones, the reindeer, fox or the marine animals including polar bears, walrus, seals or perhaps the highly visible (and often noisy) seabirds.  But, whereas there are only three species of terrestrial mammal on Svalbard and only 28 species of birds regularly breed on the archipelago, there are over 1,100 species of terrestrial or freshwater invertebrate known from Svalbard. And this is only a start.  The true number is likely to be greater as only the fauna of the west coast, primarily from Isfjord and Kongsfjord, has been studied in any degree of detail.  However, since most invertebrates are small and often require specialised equipment to collect and observe it is easy to overlook this diversity.

 

What is an invertebrate?

Invertebrate is a general term that covers all animals that lack a backbone and hence includes everything from single celled amoebae to insects and worms.

 

 

INSECTS

There are over 250 species of insect recorded from Svalbard, including beetles, flies, fleas and even aphids.

 

Beetles (Coleoptera)

Beetles are also known on Svalbard.  However, while as a global average the beetles comprise 38% of all insect species, in the Arctic beetles are far less diverse.  Only 20 species are recorded from Svalbard forming 8.8% of the insect species in the archipelago. In generally they are rare and difficult to find but there are two species of predatory rove beetles (Staphylinidae) are common under stones under birdcliffs.  These are powerful hunters in their own world and may attack and eat springtails (Collembola), particularly the large yellow springtail, Megaphorura arcticus (no common name) which is often the same size as the beetle.  A species of weevil may be found on the willow in, amongst other places, Adventfjord.   

 

Wasps (Hymenoptera)

Wasps are common but not the large black and yellow social wasps with the sting that all are familar with. The Svalbard wasp fauna consists of two groups, the plant feeding wasps and the parasitic wasps. 

 

The plant feeding wasps are generally known as Sawflies due to the fact the female has a sawlike ovipositor (egg laying organ) with which she cuts a hole in the plant leaf into which to lay the egg.  The most common species lay eggs on the polar willow (Salix polaris, Polarvier).  These eggs rapidly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

hatch to produce small green caterpillers.  These are difficult to spot but in late August can often be found in the cotton wool like substance forming the remains of the willow catkins.

 

The parasitic wasps lay their eggs within the larvae of flies and sawflies.  These hatch and eventually eat the host larvae inside out.  Wasps with this type of life history are known as Parasitoids.  While this might sound particularly grisly the parasitoid larvae do not have it all their own way.  There exists a group known as Hyperparasitoids.  These wasps lay their eggs in the larvae of the parasitoid which is within the fly larvae host.

 

 

Bees.

Bees are also included in the Hymenoptera but there are none present on Svalbard.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fleas (Siphonaptera)

The fleas known from Svalbard are parasitic on the birds, the seabirds such as kittiwakes, glaucous gulls and the common eider, but also and the barnacle geese.  In general though the birds on Svalbard have few invertebrate parasites compared to bird populations further south.

 

Flies (Diptera)

As is common in the Arctic the flies, Diptera, form the most numerous insects.  Perhaps the most noticeable being the non-biting chironomids numerous in the summer.  These spend most of their lives as larvae before pupating and emerging as adults.  Since the adults do not feed they have a short period as an adult.  To conserve energy the males often wait on the ground until they hear a female fly past, responding to the sound of her wings.  This behaviour was deduced by a Finnish biologist who observed that he could induce the males to take to the air by humming a Finnish folk tune. 

 

There are also mosquitoes on Svalbard.  These can be extremely numerous, especially in Adventdalen, around Brucebyen and Kapp Thordsen.  The species is irritaing but not thought to spread disease on Svallbard.  The commonly repeated story that the mosquito was accidentally imported to Svalbard by phosphate miners is, unfortunately, likely to be incorrect (See Box in Where do they come from?).

 

Butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera)

Usually one of the most obvious orders of insects are the butterflies and moths but on Svalbard there are only two species of resident moth and no butterflies.  One of the moths is only known from Kongsfjord, Pyla fusca (no common name), while the other, the Exile (Apamea maillardi) is observed in many locations, including

Adventdalen but in extremely low numbers. 

Although only two are resident on Svalbard, that is they are able to complete their life cycle here, many species are occasionally blown here with the wind.  Seven other species, including the green veined white (Pieris napi), Camberwell beauty (Nymphalis antiopa) and the painted lady (Vanessa cardui) have been seen on Svalbard.  However, it is the Diamond Backed Moth, (Plutella xylostella) that is the best known vagrant. 

This species is arrives regularly after a period of southerly winds being brought from the Norwegian mainland or Finland.  It cannot survive here and soon dies.

 

 

 

 

 

Caddisflies (Trichoptera)

One species of caddisfly is present and can be seen in many ponds and lakes, for example Linnevatn or ponds in front of glaciers.  This insect is best known for the case composed of small stones that the nymph constructs and lives in. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

True bugs (Hemiptera)

Perhaps surprisingly there are two species of aphid on Svalbard and both are endemic, that is they are only known from Svalbard. Both these species have evolved unusual lifec cyles to cope with the Svalbard environment.  The best known of these aphids is Acyrthosiphon svalbardicum (no common name).  It feeds on the Dryas octapetula, often found at the base of the leaves or on the flower shoots under the petals.  The second species, Sitobion calvulus, feeds on polar willow (Polarvier) but occasionally also on Pedicularis sp. (hairy horsewort; lodnemyrklegg).  Both species can be found in Adventdalen but also both have a restricted distribution.  See life history of aphids on Svalbard.

 

Sucking lice (Anoplura)

 

Biting lice (Mallaphaga)

 

 

ARACHNIDA

Araneae (spiders)

The spiders are all small black or dark brown animals with a maximum body length of 3mm (pictures).  They are extremely common and can be seen under stones and logs, often remaining stationary for 4 or 5 seconds after the stone has been overturned before suddenly spring into life and escaping.  It is also common to find the remains of egg cocoons or sometimes cocoons with unhatched eggs and the parent still guarding (pictures).

There are only a few records of spiders in houses.  The species from Svalbard are adapted to the Svalbard environment and rarely enter houses.

 

Acari (mites)

Some 140 species of mite are known from Svalbard.  The majority are small innocuous animals living in the soil, however, some can be often seen running about over rocks on warm days.   The mites can be divided into three groups, the hard bodied (oribatids) and the soft bodied (mesostigmatids and prostigmatids) mites.  The hard-bodied mites have the greatest diversity on Svalbard with over 80 species recorded.  These animals live in the soil and feed mostly on dead plant material or fungae.  Although they are very small, less than one millimetre long, they often live many years.  One species had its life cycle described recently and was found to take five years to become adult. 

Less is known about the soft bodied mites.  They are often predatory feeding on other mites as well as other invertebrates.  They also have a shorter life cycle although the life cycle on Svalbard is unknown.   

 

 

WORMS

There are three groups of worm on Svalbard.  The Annelida, Nematoda and the Platyhelminthes.

 

 

ANNELIDA (Segmented worms) 

Earthworms are annelid worms.  There are no earthworms on Svalbard but close relatives, the potworms (Enchytraeidae), are often found in large numbers.  These look like small white earthworms but few are longer than two or three centimetres.  They live anywhere where there is organic soil, feeding on dead plant material and microbes.

 

NEMATODA (Roundworms) 

 

 

PLATYHELMINTHES (Flatworms)

One of the few species of invertebrate introduced to Svalbard by man came with the accidental introduction of the Sibling vole (Microtus rossiameridinalis).  The invertebrate goes by the name of Echinococcus multilocularis Leuckart, 1863 and has a complicated life cycle involving both the vole and the arctic fox (Alopex lagopus). The parasite is an adult tapeworm in the gut of the fox.  These adults produce eggs which pass out of the fox with the faeces and become attached the vegetation.  The eggs can now be eaten by the vole while it is grazing on the grasses.  Once in the gut of the vole the eggs hatch and the larvae migrate through the gut lining into the blood stream and to the liver.  On arrival here they develop into a hydatid cyst, a large mass of tissue that swells and eventually kills the vole.  The vole is then scavenged by the fox, eaten and the cysts develops into the adult tapeworm in the gut of the fox and is ready to produce more eggs.  The parasite is potentially dangerous to humans since it is possible to become infected with the eggs.  The subsequent illness is termed alveolar hydatid disease and is often fatal unless treated early.  It is extremely difficult to surgically remove the hydatid cysts and main treatments rely on drugs that prevent development of the parasite.  However, infection is rare.  First one must ingest the eggs so normal hygiene procedures in known risk areas will reduce the likelihood of infection significantly.  Also, in most cases the immune response of the body detects and removes the parasite.  Should you become infected, given early detection, survival is now much improved with the 10 year survival rate being over 90%.

 

The vole is thought to have been brought to Svalbard with feed for the horses in the now derelict Russian mine at Grumont.  Eggs of the parasite may be found where voles and foxes live in closed contact. Voles have established themselves along the coastline from Colesdalen to Adventfjord.  It seems unlikely that the vole will be able to spread much further since the vole requires access to vegetation throughout the winter on which it feeds and a deep insulating snow layer to protect against extremes of low temperature.  These conditions are found under the bird cliffs but are rare elsewhere.  Since the foxes roam over large areas infected foxes may in principle be found almost anywhere but it seems the chances of being infected are low.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CRUSTACEA

 

The Crustacea on Svalbard are aquatic and more information can be found on the Limnology pages  

 

 

  

 

There are also a wide range of animals only visible with a microscope.

 

 

 

 

 

TARDIGRADA

 

ROTIFERA

 

AMOEBAE

 

 

 

Research into the species diversity of insects, Collembola mites is an ongoing research theme of the Department of Arctic Biology at UNIS.  Please report unusual sightings of insects to UNIS we will attempt to identify and provide information about any invertebrates collected.

 

REPORT YOUR OBSERVATION

Please report sightings of unsual insects.  Include details of animal, place and time.  Individuals caught may be sent to:-

 

Dr. Steve Coulson,

Department of Arctic Biology,

UNIS,

pb. 156,

9171 Longyearbyen.

email:-   steve.coulson<at>unis.no

tel:-       79 02 33 34.  

 

I will try and answer queries about the observation and provide identifications of any animals sent to me.