Identification Tools for the Personal Bioblitz

Recommended Resources for Species Identification (111k PDF file)

This list includes books, online forums and Facebook groups, websites, and interactive keys.

1. GROUP 1: Arranged by organismal group.
2. GROUP 2: Arranged by specific geographic location.
3. GROUP 3: Arranged by habitat with resources for any type of organism.

Links are given when available. Geographic area covered is listed in brackets [ ]. Informal or outdated names still used on iNaturalist are listed in quotes. The iNaturalist classification can be found here. Note that some of the Facebook groups are Closed Groups, you have to request to be added as a member.

Please email additions to this list to .

GROUP 1: By Organismal Group

All living things (Life)

1. Website: Encyclopedia of Life
2. Website: Discover Life (by organismal group)
3. Keys: Discover Life (list of many keys)
4. Keys: Identification Technology Program Keys (IDTools; list of many keys)
5. Identotron on iNaturalist (accessible from your observations)

Archaea and Eubacteria

1. Book: Dexter Dyer, Field guide to Bacteria

Protists: Flagellates, Amoebas, Ciliates, Slime molds (single-celled, non-photosynthetic protists, "Protozoa")

1. Online book: Patterson, Free-Living Freshwater Protozoa (scanned book on Google docs)

Fungi: any kind, including lichens (Fungi)

1. ID forum: The Mushroom Identification Facebook Group
2. ID forum: Mushroom Identification Page Facebook Group
3. Book: McKnight & McKnight, A Field Guide to Mushrooms: North America (Peterson Field Guides)
4. Book: Field Guide to North American Mushrooms, National Audubon Society
5. ID forum: Ferns, lichens and mosses Facebook Group
6. ID forum: Planet Moss - Liverwort - Lichen Facebook Group
7. ID forum: Lichens connecting people Facebook Group
8. Checklist: Lichens, Discover Life [North America]
9. Book: Brodo, Sharnoff, and Sharnoff, Lichens of North America
10. Online book: McCune, Key to the Lichen Genera of the Pacific Northwest (PDF) [North America]
11. Book: Nash, Gries & Bungartz, Lichen Flora of the Greater Sonoran Desert Region, vol. 3 [SW North America]
12. Photos: Sharnoff, Lichens of North America

Plants: Algae, any kind (non-natural grouping; including kelps, diatoms, seaweeds, etc.)

1. ID forum: ID Please (Marine Creatures Identification) Facebook Group

Plants: Mosses and liverworts (Bryophyta)

1. ID forum: Ferns, lichens and mosses Facebook Group
2. ID forum: Planet Moss - Liverwort - Lichen Facebook Group
3. Website: Flora of North America (mosses) [North America]
4. Key: Neotropical Flora, Discover Life [Tropical Americas]

Plants: Ferns and fern allies, including lycopods

1. ID forum: Ferns, lichens and mosses Facebook Group
2. Website:Flora of North America? (not all families included) [North America]
3. Key: Ferns, Discover Life [North America]
4. Key: Neotropical Flora, Discover Life [Tropical Americas]

Plants: Seed plants (flowering plants and conifers)

1. ID forum: Plant Identification (intermediate- advanced) Facebook group
2. ID forum: Plant Identification Facebook group
3. ID forum: Plant Identification and Discussion Facebook group
4. Key: Dried Botanical ID? (potpourri ingredients)
5. Website:eFloras (online floras of the world, many keys, spotty geographic coverage)
6. Website: Flora of North America (not all families included)
7. Key: Neotropical Flora, Discover Life [Tropical Americas]
8. Key: Grasses, sedges, and rushes, Discover Life (incomplete) [USA]
9. Key: Wildflowers, Discover Life [USA]
10. App: VTREE (trees) [North America]
11. Book: Bark: A Field Guide to Trees of the Northeast (trees) [North America]
12. Book: Kershner, Field Guide to Trees of North America, National Wildlife Federation
13. North American moth Photographers Group : http://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/

Plants: Cultivated plants (indoor and outdoor)

1. [to be filled in]

Animals: Other arthropods and invertebrates (for example Myriapoda, Annelida, Platyhelminthes, Collembola)

1. Website: BugGuide [North America]
2. Website: Checklist of the Collembola [Europe]

Animals: Mollusks, snails, mussels, etc. (Mollusca)

1. ID forum: Passion for shells [Mollusca] Facebook Group
2. ID forum: ID Please (Marine Creatures Identification) Facebook Group

Animals: Arachnids, spiders, mites, ticks, etc. (Arachneae)

1. Website: BugGuide [North America]
2. ID forum: Spider and Insect Enthusiast Facebook Group
3. Key: Ticks, Discover Life [North America]

Animals: Insects (Insecta)

1. Website: BugGuide [North America]
2. ID forum: Entomology Facebook Group
3. ID forum: Insect Identification Facebook Group
4. Key: Insect orders of the world, Discover Life
5. ID forum: Mothing and Moth-watching Facebook Group
6. ID forum: Moths of the Americas and beyond Facebook Group
7. Key: Moths, Discover Life [North America]
8. Website: Butterflies of America
9. Key: Butterflies, Discover Life [North America]
10. Key: Caterpillars, Discover Life [North America]
11. ID forum: Coleoptera Facebook Group
12. Key: Ladybugs, Discover Life [North America]
13. Key: Bees, Discover Life
14. Key: Bumblebees, Discover Life [North America]
15. Checklist: Ants, Discover Life
16. Key: Dragonflies, Discover Life [North America]
17. Key: Mosquitoes, Discover Life [North America]
18. Key: Crickets and katydids, Discover Life [North America]

Animals: Crabs, shrimps, and relatives? (Crustacea)

1. ID forum: ID Please (Marine Creatures Identification) Facebook Group

Animals: Sea anemones, corals (Cnidaria), sea urchins, sand dollars (Echinodermata), sponges (Porifera)

1. ID forum: ID Please (Marine Creatures Identification) Facebook Group

Animals: Ray-finned fishes (Actinopterygii), and sharks, rays, etc.

1. ID forum: ID Please (Marine Creatures Identification) Facebook Group

Animals: Ampibians (frogs, salamanders),. ?and reptiles (snakes, lizards, turtles, etc.)

1. [nothing entered yet]

Animals: Birds (Aves)

1. Website: eBird
2. Website: All about Birds

Animals: Mammals (Mammalia)

1. [nothing entered yet]

GROUP 2: By Specific Geographic Area

Top

Central and South America

1. ID forum: Arácnidos De Centroamérica Facebook Group (arachnids, bilingual)
2. Website: Neotropical Live Plant Photos
3. Key: Neotropical Flora, Discover Life [Tropical Americas]

Eastern United States

1. Book: Hinds & Hinds, Macrolichens of New England (lichens)
2. Book: McMullin & Anderson, Common Lichens of Northeastern North America: A Field Guide (lichens)
3. Book: Lendemer, Harris, & Tripp, The Lichens and Allied Fungi of Great Smoky Mountains National Park: An Annotated Checklist with Comprehensive Keys (lichens)
4. Book: McKnight, Common Mosses of the Northeast and Appalachians (Princeton Field Guides), (mosses)
5. Book: Lincoln, Liverworts of New England: A Guide for the Amateur Naturalist (liverworts)
6. Book: Rhoads & Block, Plants of Pennsylvania (vascular plants)
7. Website: GoBotany (vascular plants)
8. Key: Virginia Tech ID Keys (vascular plants)
9. ID forum: Bugs and slugs of the Eastern United States Facebook Group ?(invertebrates)
10. Book: Gosner, A Field Guide to the Atlantic Seashore: From the Bay of Fundy to Cape Hatteras, Peterson Field Guides
11. ID forum: Moths of the Eastern United States Facebook Group (insects)
12. ID forum: Moths of the Eastern North America Facebook Group (insects)
13. ID forum: Butterflies of the Eastern United States Facebook Group (insects)
14. Photos: Seashells from the Ocean's Edge Pictorial Index (see also SeashellGuide.com)
15. Book: Paulson, Dragonflies and Damselflies of the East, Princeton Field Guides (insects)
16. Book: Wagner, Caterpillars of Eastern North America: A Guide to Identification and Natural History, Princeton Field Guides (insects)
17. Book: Evans, Beetles of Eastern North America (insects)
18. Website: Online Field Guide for Reptiles and Amphibians (amphibians, reptiles) [New Jersey]
19. ID forum: Birds of the Eastern United States Facebook Group (birds)

New Jersey, USA

1. Plants of Southern New Jersey
2. Key: New Jersey Wildflowers, Discover Life
3. Key: New Jersey Moths, Discover Life [New Jersey]

Sweden

1. [nothing entered yet]

GROUP 3: By Habitat

Top

Seashore and marine environments

1. ID forum: ID Please (Marine Creatures Identification) Facebook Group
2. Book: Gosner, A Field Guide to the Atlantic Seashore: From the Bay of Fundy to Cape Hatteras (Peterson Field Guides)

List assembled by Lena Struwe and collaborators, 2017. (cc) Lena Struwe, 2017 (OK to share and copy)