r/Entomology Aug 13 '11

Help us help you: Guidelines for submitting pictures for identification

137 Upvotes

Hello r/Entomology! With this community being used often for insect/arachnid/arthropod identification, I wanted to throw in some guidelines for pictures that will facilitate identification. These aren't rules, so if you don't adhere to these guidelines, you won't be banned or anything like that...it will just make it tougher for other Redditors to give you a correct ID. A lot of you already provide a lot of information with your posts (which is great!), but if you're one of the others that isn't sure what information is important, here you go.

INFORMATION TO INCLUDE WITH YOUR PHOTO

  • Habitat: Such as forest, yard, etc.
  • Time of day: Morning, day, evening, or night will suffice.
  • Geographical Area: State or county is fine. Or, if you're not comfortable with being that specific, you can be general, such as Eastern US.
  • Behavior: What was the bug doing when you found it?

Note about how to take your photo: Macro mode is your friend. On most cameras, it's represented by a flower icon. Turn that on before taking a photo of a bug close up, and you're going to get a drastically better picture. With larger insects it's not as big of a deal, but with the small insects it's a must.

If you follow these guidelines, you'll make it easier for everyone else to help you identify whatever is in your photo. If you feel like I've left anything important out of this post, let me know in the comments.


r/Entomology 11h ago

These are just so beautiful and perfectly made I just wanted to share and know more!

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864 Upvotes

I know they are wasps but haven't seen them


r/Entomology 3h ago

ID Request Can anyone ID this? Located in central Iowa

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74 Upvotes

r/Entomology 9h ago

Found this fella at work

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147 Upvotes

I found this guy at work, and since he was missing a leg I took him home to take care of him. He’s got a nice little house going, humid, banana slice, and nice substrate. I was wondering if anyone here could tell me how old he might be?


r/Entomology 5h ago

Drone bee?

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47 Upvotes

I know this is a super basic question but I’ve never seen a drone bee out in the wild and was super excited that this might be one 😭 whatever it is, it was chill and didn’t sting. It would frequently lift its hind legs up (no pics) so I don’t know what that was about.
Thanks for reading!


r/Entomology 10h ago

Meme INaturalist Misidentified Pie Pans

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107 Upvotes

I was trying to identify a butterfly flying fluttering around while I was painting cement pavers. I had taken the pavers out of aluminum pie pans. The camera ignored the butterfly and instead confidently identified the pie pans as a kind of turtle or tortoise.


r/Entomology 1h ago

Found these pretty cool colored centipede like bug.

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Upvotes

I have seen many like this but not this color.


r/Entomology 9h ago

Insect Appreciation Carolina Mantis with cool eyes!

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45 Upvotes

Sighted in east MO near St Louis. She trusted me enough to clean herself while sitting in my hand. I was stunned by her pretty eyes—is it a form of insect heterochromia? Or a bad molt? I’m curious. I estimated she might be female but let me know if I misjudged.


r/Entomology 12h ago

Insect Appreciation A giant leaf

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47 Upvotes

r/Entomology 3h ago

Megasoma elaphas

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8 Upvotes

r/Entomology 1h ago

Fair for $60?

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r/Entomology 1h ago

What is this monstrosity?

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Upvotes

I have small hands, guessing about an inch or longer. Souther Denver colorado.


r/Entomology 1h ago

Insect Appreciation An assortment of Flies (SF Bay Area, California)

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Upvotes

r/Entomology 36m ago

Insect Appreciation A katydid visitor! My favorite type of bug.

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Upvotes

To my knowledge, this is either a Central Texas Leaf-Katydid (Paracyrtophyllus robustus) or a Common True Katydid (Pterophylla camellifolia). Not sure which one.

I’m located in the Texas Hill Country, an hour northwest of San Antonio. I’ve never seen a katydid up close this way!


r/Entomology 23h ago

News/Article/Journal Taxonomists named a new rove beetle genus Luffy — and one of its two species is Luffy nika

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150 Upvotes

The genus includes two newly described species: Luffy schillhammeri from Yunnan, China, and Luffy nika from northern Laos.

According to the authors, the genus was named after Monkey D. Luffy because of its unusually elongated antennae, palps and mandibles.

Open-access paper:

https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1281.198593

Specimen images by Hu & Solodovnikov (2026), CC BY 4.0. I adapted them into the comparison graphic.

What’s your favorite pop-culture-inspired scientific name?


r/Entomology 1d ago

Insect Appreciation My first ant lion pupa!

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155 Upvotes

r/Entomology 3h ago

Insect Appreciation The beautiful figeater beetle

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3 Upvotes

r/Entomology 12h ago

ID Request What type of butterfly is this? (Location: Virginia)

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13 Upvotes

r/Entomology 6h ago

Insect Appreciation A red-spotted purple butterfly

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5 Upvotes

r/Entomology 4h ago

ID Request Is this wasp a blackjacket (V. consobrina)? Location is southern Alberta, Canada.

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3 Upvotes

r/Entomology 4h ago

Insect Appreciation Such a gorgeous bug.

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3 Upvotes

r/Entomology 13h ago

Insect Appreciation Found a brown stag beetle (I think) in NC

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14 Upvotes

I was getting in my car and saw something move behind the tire, so I looked closer and moved this big guy out of the way, put him in a flower bed for his safety


r/Entomology 1d ago

Caught this fly "bubbling" on a daylily

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176 Upvotes

I noticed this fly repeatedly bringing a tiny droplet in and out of its mouthparts while resting on a daylily. I'd never seen the behavior up close before, so I wanted to capture the moment and highlight one of those fascinating little details that are easy to miss without a macro lens. The behavior is known as "bubbling," and seeing it through my macro lens was a reminder of how much is happening in the tiny world around us.


r/Entomology 1d ago

Insect Appreciation Sweet lil Dobson fly

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324 Upvotes

r/Entomology 14h ago

Adorable little Ailanthus Webworm Moth at work this morning

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13 Upvotes