This is The Guardian.

What's your favourite invertebrate?

It's probably not a question you usually ask yourself.

But now is the time to give it a ponder, as the Guardian

has launched its second Invertebrate of the Year competition. Of course, Guardian readers have

moths, beetles, spiders, crabs and worms they cherish. Dardigrades are probably the most remarkable animals in the world.

Tong biters live in the mouths of fishes.

The thing that totally fascinated me about these simple rotifers is how they count on change for

strength.

And if you're lucky enough, you might, just like the Guardian's Patrick

Barkham, see one in your own backyard. So I saw one of the top ten yesterday. I could not believe

it and I had no idea that we could find one of the top ten in your average British garden in southern England.

Just this past weekend, Patrick was out enjoying the spring sunshine when suddenly...

I saw this bee that actually is a fly pretending to a bee and I was like,

that's the dark-edged bee-fly. It's described as a flying narwhal

because it's got this long proboscis that's very rigid, almost like a horn sticking out at the

front of its face. He even caught it laying eggs. It drops eggs near the nests of solitary bees and then it's larvae hatch and they eat

the larvae of the solitary bees. So it's kind of a parasitic animal. It's very cunning.

But it's a sign of a healthy ecosystem.

And that's just one of the incredible and eye-catching invertebrates in the top ten.

So today, some of the truly bizarre and fabulous nominations that have made it into the short list,

and which spineless creature should take the 2025 title.

...