 Despite a few recent surveys, the non-arthropod invertebrate fauna of Heard Island remain poorly known.Beetles and flies dominate Heard Island's known insect fauna, which comprises up to 21 species of ectoparasite (associated with birds and seals) and up to 13 free-living species.Approximately half of the free-living insects are habitat-specific, while the remainder are generalists found in a variety of habitats, being associated with either supralittoral or intertidal zones, "Poa cookii" and "Pringlea antiscorbutica" stands, bryophytes, lichen-covered rocks, exposed rock faces or the underside of rocks.