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A Student’s Guide to Insect Identification Software on the Web

A Student’s Guide to Insect Identification Software on the Web. Maggie Tai Tucker Zoology 445 (honors project) Spring 2003. Why look at web software?. Several potential advantages: Databases searchable in many different ways (by characters, by descriptions, by family, etc.)

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A Student’s Guide to Insect Identification Software on the Web

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  1. A Student’s Guide to Insect Identification Software on the Web Maggie Tai Tucker Zoology 445 (honors project) Spring 2003

  2. Why look at web software? Several potential advantages: • Databases searchable in many different ways (by characters, by descriptions, by family, etc.) • Can offer couplet choices one at a time, less confusing for beginners. • Can link to more detailed information, photos, illustrations. Essentially no space limitations.

  3. Potential shortcomings • If students can find info on the web, they may not learn to use a written key, which remains the standard. • Free public keys tend to specialize in one topic or in one area, based on who sponsored the project. • May be very shallow, e.g. only to order. Creating a key is a huge undertaking – both building the database and making the links to guide users through it.

  4. Criteria used in this review • # of taxa (as a point of comparison, the written key used in our class – Bland 1978 – includes 3200+ taxa) • Level of expertise needed to use • Quality of photos or illustrations • Availability/accessibility • Cost

  5. Programs reviewed • Bug-Net (UK) – simple, accurate IDs to order • City Bug (Berkeley) – most suitable for children • COMTESA (Oregon State Univ.) – the most detailed of the online keys, but limited coverage • DAISY (UK/Costa Rica/US) – an automated ID project for conservation use, included here only to let students know what a key might look like far in the future • WoodyBug 2.0 (Univ. of Florida) – not a key, but photos, text, and links on some common families; strong on biology and insect life history

  6. Bug-Net: Summary • Web site created by a senior at Univ. of Hertfordshire • Focus is on UK spp. • Series of couplet choices directs users to correct order • Web links to more info on orders, suborders. http://www.bug-net.co.uk/index.html

  7. Bug-Net: Best couplet interface

  8. Bug-Net Features

  9. City Bug: Description • Joint project of Oakland Schools and UC Berkeley • Aim: To educate kids K-12 and the public • One of its search tools lets you check off known features of the insect such as habitat and body type • Users can e-mail queries to UC entomologists http://www.cnr.berkeley.edu/citybugs/main.htm

  10. City Bug Features

  11. COMTESA: Description • Computer Taxonomy and Ecology of Soil Animals • Covers mainly soil animals found in Pacific NW: Coleoptera, Isopoda, Acari, Collembola, a few Hymenoptera • Includes some dichotomous, some synoptic keys • Original Mac Hypercard version was designed so researchers could tailor ID process to local species. (BSA has a copy of this.) • Moved onto the Web in 2002. http://www.ent.orst.edu/comtesa/

  12. COMTESA: Primitive but clear illustrations

  13. COMTESA: Most detailed list of characters

  14. Comtessa Features

  15. DAISY Description • Project to develop automated insect ID software (image from a special camera is analyzed) • Aim: For non-specialists to be able to ID insect species as a means of assessing status of a local ecosystem • Intended to help implement Convention on Biological diversity • Target group is Ophioninae (a suborder of Ichneumonidae) • Joint effort by researchers in UK-Costa Rica-US http://chasseur.usc.edu/pups/projects/daisy.html

  16. DAISY Features

  17. Univ. of Florida: Summary • Not a true key, it claims to be a “knowledgebase” • Central directory photos function as a simplified key • Available both as CD-ROM and on a department web site (web site hard to find!) • Aim: to educate both the general public and students of pest management • Other databases in the series: Bees & Wasps, Mole Crickets, and a Butterfly Tutorial. http://woodypest.ifas.ufl.edu/insect.htm

  18. Univ. of Fla. Features

  19. A word on specialty web sites • As useful and in some cases more useful than these keys are the many web sites devoted to a particular family or subfamily of insect. • For example, if trying to key out a Coccinellid beetle with 7 spots, try typing “7 spot lady beetle” into a search engine. • Nearly 50 links appear, most providing the scientific species name and some providing photos or illustrations

  20. Example of a good specialty site http://www.uoguelph.ca/~samarsha/lady-beetles.htm

  21. Conclusions • No software key is currently as thorough as a written general key, or as detailed as a written specialty key on a particular order or suborder. • If one comes out that has a comparable level of detail, it will most likely be from the publisher of a written key. • COMTESA is the most directly relevant to students at the Univ. of Washington, because of its level of detail, clear illustrations, and focus on species found in the Pacific NW • The Univ. of Florida web sites and CDs are a good general teaching resource.

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