Field Guide: Butterflies & Moths of North America

Discussion 85 posts |  Only members can post. Join?

About Field Guide: Butterflies & Moths of North America

NOTES:

This is a tag-based group, not just another place for pretty butterfly photos! Tagging is required -- it provides our lookup capabilities (see below). Photos submitted without required tags may be summarily removed. See tagging requirements below. Species, location, and month are particularly important.

The species list including tags can help (incomplete, but still useful). If you are submitting a photo & the species is present in the list, copy the list of tags from there, paste it into your photo, and presto! your photo has all of the general-purpose tags. Don't forget to add the specific ones (state/province, month, color, etc) -- see instructions at top of that thread.

PHOTOS WITHOUT A SPECIES ID ARE NOT ALLOWED IN THE POOL. If you don't know the name of your species, try the ID Please group or post to our Help Line thread. After your species is identified, you can then post it to the pool.

We strongly encourage geotagging. You can click Organize at the top of the page & use the nifty map interface.

We also strongly encourage Creative Commons licenses (particularly ones which will permit derivative works, such as mosaics) for all photos posted to the group. CC licensing lets you share, while still protecting your rights. What's not to like?

===============================

HOW TO LOOK UP A CRITTER

To see all examples of a known species, go to our hyperlink list, alphabetical by common name. (This is a little out of date.)

To browse by family, here's the same list sorted by family.

Or, click below for the click-and-search lookup table by size and color.



You can also use the main Search screen manually: www.flickr.com/photos/search/ . Search on the tag BMNA plus any of those below that match your specimen.


HOW TO CONTRIBUTE

What: Butterflies and moths. Caterpillars & chrysalises/coccoons welcome too. Multiple submissions are welcome, but please don't add multiple versions of the same basic shot -- pick your best one.

Where: Continenental United States, Canada, and Mexico (native or naturalized species)

Why: To assemble an online "Field Guide" of as many species as possible from all those gorgeous Flickrfly photos.

How: Each contribution must be a clear closeup of a live insect showing useful identifying features -- not blurred, in silhouette, overtly manipulated, etc. In general it should show the whole animal (or as much as possible), unless it is a closeup showing key field marks for species ID.

Here are the required tags. Those marked * can be copied from the 'preset' tag list or the tag generator (see above).

*1) The unique identifier "BMNA", to enable searching of photos in the pool from the main Flickr Advanced Search page.

*2) Latin name (genus + species)

Name should follow our taxonomic authorities exactly, so that the clickable index always matches the tags on the photos:
Butterflies: www.butterfliesandmoths.org
Moths: All-Leps

*3) Latin genus by itself

*4) Common name. Butterfy common name should likewise match www.butterfliesandmoths.org exactly. For moths, MPG is a good source.

5) For US and Canada, the 2-letter abbreviation for the state or province where the butterfly was found. (EXCEPTIONS: for Ontario use Ont; for Indiana use Ind). For Mexico, the full name of the state. Additional location info, such as town name or geotagging, is strongly encouraged. EXCEPTION: do not give for buttefly exhibits; use the tag "captive" instead.

6) Month found (the full name, eg, September) -- this is an important clue, since butterfly flights can be very short. Please also make sure the photo's Date Taken is accurate. EXCEPTION: do not use for buttefly exhibits.

7) Size -- one of the following (wingspan or caterpillar length):
Small: <4 cm (1.6"). Example: most Grass Skippers
Midsize: 4-7 cm (1.6-2.8”) Examples: Cabbage White, Cloudless Sulphur
Large: >7 cm (2.8"). Example: Monarch

If you’re not sure how big your specimen was, www.butterfliesandmoths.org gives size ranges for butteflies and some moths. For moths, try also Bugguide, eNature, or MPG.

8) The dominant color(s) present. Example: a monarch would be an orange & black butterfly, & would get 2 tags, “orange” and “black”. Rule of thumb: if you'd call it an "orange & black butterfly," add both tags; if you'd call it "an orange butterfly with black markings," add only orange. There's no wrong answer; just use your own judgement. From the following list:
black, brown [including tan], pink, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, grey [this spelling, please], white

9) As applicable:
*butterfly [use this for adults]
*moth [use this for adults]
caterpillar
pupa [for a chrysalis or coccoon]
captive

Recommended in caption or tags, but not required (the more info you can provide, the better!):
- male or female
- dorsal [for a shot showing the top surface]
- ventral [for a shot showing the bottom surface]
- *Latin family & (if applicable) subfamily
- morph (eg, "black morph")
- *subspecies (eg, "Astyanax Red-spotted Purple" & "Limenitis arthemis astyanax" -- in addition to, not instead of, the species name itself)
- habitat
- ID tips
- food plants
- links to (or non-copyrighted text from) other internet resources