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The identification of insects is not
fundamentally different from the identification of birds, fish, mammals,
flowers, trees or any other form of life. It is simply a matter of
knowing what to look for and being able to see it. Insect
identification is made difficult by the tremendous number of different
species.
Like all living things, insects are
grouped together based on similar characteristics. The Animal
Kingdom is divided into Phylum. The Arthropod Phylum contains
animals that have an external skeleton. It is divided into four
subphylum; the largest is the Insecta, or insects. It, in turn, is
divided into twenty-six orders. The orders are then divided into
families, which are divided into genus.
There are over 900,000 insects world-wide, and
about 90,000 of them are found in North America. New species are
constantly being discovered.
The purpose of this Online Reference Library is
to introduce the novice to the various type of insects, the insect
orders and the physical characteristics that determine an insect's
classification. The goal of this Insect Identifier is to to provide the
novice with a means of classifying a specimen by order. More
detailed identification generally requires professional training and an
extensive reference library. Even armed with such resources,
professionals often disagree over identification and
classification.
Identification is made by simply following the
steps set forth in the key. It begins with selecting the wing
type. Keep in mind that their is considerably diversity in the
insect world and that some members of an order may have only one wing
type, but others have all three wing types. This key takes
them all into account and this results in some orders being listed
several times. |
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Start by
selecting the wing type
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Click on the above picture or link to
go the next step.
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