Identification Aids

Eumaeus toxea 
 
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, the great majority of species are not yet pictured and described electronically. Nevertheless, Web resources grow daily and can often provide a tentative answer.

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