Can you identify my butterfly, moth, or caterpillar?

Can we identify your butterfly, moth, or caterpillar? No. Because we serve both moths and butterflies on this site, we receive many requests to identify adult and larval butterflies and moths, but we do not have the means to identify all of them. Please do not contact us and ask us to identify your butterfly or moth.

At present, we are working to improve tools that will assist with identification. In the meantime, your best strategy using this site is to browse our image thumbnails in the Image Gallery. The photographs are organized by Family, and you can scan them to find one that is most similar to the butterfly or moth you saw.

***A very useful online identification tool is the Butterflies guide of the IDnature guides series.

Other Web Resources for Butterfly and Moth Identification
(Note: Butterflies and Moths of North America does not endorse these Web sites or the products they offer for sale; we offer the links solely as a service to our visitors.)

BugGuide is a good resource for butterflies or moths. A few web sites that may be able to help with butterfly identification are Cirrus Digital Imaging (photographs of butterflies and moths), The Butterfly Website, TheButterflySite.com, and What's That Bug?.

For moth identification assistance, try the North American Moth Photographers Group, the Cirrus Digital Imaging site, or John Snyder's Web Images of North American Moth Species. Snyder's site is valuable specifically for moth identification and makes available a tremendous number of American moth photographs. This site is somewhat difficult for the amateur to use, because of the hundreds of species covered. However, if you can narrow your moth down to probable family by using this site, you can then visit Snyder's site, browse through all of the species within that Family, and possibly identify your moth.

If you are trying to identify a noctuid moth in or around California, and if you have some expertise in moth anatomy, you may find the California Department of Food & Agriculture Plant Pest Diagnostics Center website of value.

Visit the Links page for other sites that offer photographs and distribution maps.

Non-Web Resources
Alternatively, you can consult a library or bookstore. Butterfly and moth collecting are popular hobbies, and most libraries have, or can easily obtain, field guides to the Lepidoptera. Some that you may find especially useful are:

Covell, C.V., Jr. 1984. A field guide to the moths of eastern North America. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston.

Opler, P.A. 1994. Peterson first guide to butterflies and moths: a simplified guide to the common butterflies and moths of North America. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston.

Opler, P.A. and V. Malilul. 1998. A field guide to eastern butterflies. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston.

Wright, A.B. 1993. Peterson first guide to caterpillars of North America. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston.

Caterpillar Identification
Butterflies and Moths of North America includes relatively few pictures of caterpillars. Additional pictures are added as they are available, but we currently do not have enough caterpillar images to be of use in identification. If you are trying to identify a caterpillar, try the Caterpillar Guide of the IDnature guides series, which offers step-by-step assistance. For resources with a regional focus, try Caterpillars of Pacific Northwest Forests and Woodlands or Caterpillars of Eastern Forests. Both of these illustrate common moth and butterfly larvae of the respective regions, with emphasis on those that are economically important. The northwestern guide contains a key that enables the user to identify a specimen based on morphological characteristics. Its use requires the reader to learn some scientific terminology and examine the specimen quite closely, often with a magnifying glass. The eastern guide is organized by family, and the reader will have to search it photo by photo; to make it easier to read, a photo thumbnails feature has been added to this resource.

Other useful sites are John Snyder's Web Images of North American Moth Species or the University of Idaho Cooperative Extension's Entomology Programs. If you are looking for a book, try: Wright, A.B. 1993. Peterson first guide to caterpillars of North America. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston.

Important Notes:
Be aware that a caterpillar may change dramatically in appearance from one growth stage (or "instar") to another. Most of the photos provided in the above resources are of late instar caterpillars. Thus you may have to rear a caterpillar in captivity until it enters its last instar in order to identify it. Be sure to note the host plant on which you found your caterpillar. Many butterfly books include a host plant index that may provide valuable clues to the caterpillar's identity. If you know the scientific name of the plant the caterpillar was eating, you can sometimes figure out what you have at the Caterpillar Hostplants Database. Finally, do not overlook the folks at your local extension office; they should be familiar with the caterpillars in your local area and may be very helpful.

If You're Really Stuck
As a last resort, Dr. Ron Royer, a specialist in Lepidoptera at Minot State University, in Minot, ND, may be able to help. His e-mail address is ron.royer@minotstateu.edu. Another gentleman who has offered to help is Mr. Jim Mason, a naturalist at the Great Plains Nature Center, in Wichita, KS. Mr. Mason is a founding member of his local chapter of the North American Butterfly Association. His e-mail is jim@gpnc.org.

If you want help from either of these gentlemen, send him a detailed description of your insect, including size, color pattern, "fuzziness," and any other peculiarities that might help identify it. Include information on the shape of the butterfly or moth when the wings are at rest, and tell him your geographical location (e.g., state and county). It would really help if you can compare it with pictures in the resources that we serve so that you can tell him that "it looks similar to _______ except that_______." If you are seeking to identify a caterpillar, it is essential to determine the species of plant that it was eating and include that information with your inquiry. Include a photo if you have the equipment. Failure to include 1) a detailed description, 2) your geographic location, and 3) the species of host plant (for caterpillars) will make it nearly impossible for these gentleman to help you.

After you have done all that, don't be disappointed if Dr. Royer or Mr. Mason cannot help you, especially if the question concerns a moth. Dr. Royer cautions that: "most moths are tough to identify with confidence even 'in the flesh,' let alone from a verbal description. I can't guarantee any ability to identify from an e-mail description." Mr. Mason echoed this sentiment even more succinctly: "If it ain't 'pretty' in some way, but just another brown fuzzy one, I wouldn't have a clue!"