Identification Aids

With approximately 165,000 known species worldwide, Order Lepidoptera presents a daunting challenge to a person trying to identify a specimen that has been collected or observed. While the Web has great potential as an aid for identification, many species are not yet pictured and described electronically. Nevertheless, Web resources grow daily and can often provide at least a tentative answer.

--For a very extensive list of resources that include the entire world, click HERE.

--The resources listed below are good places to begin if you are working on a North American organism:
  • For moths: Click HERE and HERE
  • For butterflies:  Click HERE
  • For butterflies and moths: Click HERE