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Life in the City
With its tall buildings, crowded roads, and noisy cars, the city may not seem like a place where you can find biodiversity. But you can! Thousands of species thrive in cities, from tiny mites to mighty trees.
Take a look at a city park to see a different slice of city life. Get a close-up look at 10 hidden critters!
On a dead leaf, some mites eat nematode worms; springtails leap to avoid predators.
Ants protect aphids in exchange for sweet secretions.
Bark beetle larvae chew "galleries" into wood.
A dragonfly nymph's "mouth" shoots out to catch prey.
Mosquito eggs float like a raft.
On birds like the great blue heron, mosquitoes and feather mites are parasites.
Pseudoscorpions often hitch rides on larger animals like the harvestman.
A one-celled protist digests wood inside the gut of a termite; wood-eating termites tend to their queen.
A one-celled protist digests wood inside the gut of a termite while wood-eating termites tend to their queen.
Some ichneumonid wasps lay eggs on beetle grubs.
The long-jawed orb weaver is a sit-and-wait predator.
Image Credits:
illustrations by Barrett Klein/© AMNH