Welcome to the
Entomological Society of Latvia!

Annual symbols

Every year, the Entomological Society of Latvia elects two symbols of the year - the Insect of the Year (since 1999) and the Invertebrate of the Year (since 2008), with the aim of informing the public about the ecology and biology of various species and drawing attention to nature protection topics. At the same time, the nomination of annual symbols increases the public interest in these species (or higher taxon), which increases the availability of distribution and occurrence data of these species through citizen science platforms.

Insect of the Year 2024

Bombus confusus

(Schenk 1861)

Photo: Michael Knapp (GBIF)

For the first time in 25 years of picking an insect species for the annual nature symbols tradition, Entomological Society of Latvia has chosen a bee (Anthophila). The aim of choosing this species, a part from it being a protected, rare species and an owner of beautifully large eyes, is to raise awareness of pollinator decline.

Read the full article here (in latvian).

Invertebrate of the Year 2024

Asellus aquaticus 


(Linneus, 1758)


Asellus aquaticus is a common freshwater Isopod species. As it feeds on detritus it is considered to be a good water quality indicator - the species can be found in high abundance in natural eutrophic water bodies.  At the same time A. aquaticus is resilient to water pollution and easy to rear in laboratory,  making it a great model organism to study how water pollutants influence living organisms. 

Photo: Mareks Ieviņš (dabasdati.lv)

More info here (in latvian).