BugGuide
Encyclopedia
BugGuide is a website
and online community
of naturalists
who share observations of insect
s, spider
s, and other related creatures. The website consists of guide pages and many thousands of photographs of arthropod
s from the United States and Canada. It is used for identification and research. The site is non-commercial and hosted by the Iowa State University
Department of Entomology. BugGuide was conceived by Troy Bartlett and has been maintained by John VanDyk since February of 2006.
According to VanDyk, BugGuide had over 809 million hits in 2010. He also stated that in early 2011 the site consisted of over 380,000 photographs and almost 34,000 written pages representing about 23 percent of the estimated insect species in North America.
Geologist and moth collector Richard Wilson said of the site, "The BugGuide site is very useful for anyone finding an insect and it is very interactive on getting it identified if a picture can be taken."
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
and online community
Online community
An online community is a virtual community that exists online and whose members enable its existence through taking part in membership ritual. An online community can take the form of an information system where anyone can post content, such as a Bulletin board system or one where only a restricted...
of naturalists
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
who share observations of insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
s, spider
Spider
Spiders are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms...
s, and other related creatures. The website consists of guide pages and many thousands of photographs of arthropod
Arthropod
An arthropod is an invertebrate animal having an exoskeleton , a segmented body, and jointed appendages. Arthropods are members of the phylum Arthropoda , and include the insects, arachnids, crustaceans, and others...
s from the United States and Canada. It is used for identification and research. The site is non-commercial and hosted by the Iowa State University
Iowa State University
Iowa State University of Science and Technology, more commonly known as Iowa State University , is a public land-grant and space-grant research university located in Ames, Iowa, United States. Iowa State has produced astronauts, scientists, and Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners, along with a host of...
Department of Entomology. BugGuide was conceived by Troy Bartlett and has been maintained by John VanDyk since February of 2006.
According to VanDyk, BugGuide had over 809 million hits in 2010. He also stated that in early 2011 the site consisted of over 380,000 photographs and almost 34,000 written pages representing about 23 percent of the estimated insect species in North America.
Geologist and moth collector Richard Wilson said of the site, "The BugGuide site is very useful for anyone finding an insect and it is very interactive on getting it identified if a picture can be taken."