Know Your Bug

Identifying insects and arachnids may seem difficult or even uninteresting. In fact, it is often the case that the only time we want to know what these creatures are is when they cause trouble for us.

Still, insects and arachnids are a major part of our world, and they really are quite interesting. If you think about it, of all the wild things around us, they probably spend more time with us than any other. In fact, that fear other creatures have of us doesn't seem to influence them much. That's kind of a cool thing.

With that in mind, maybe we should take a little more time to get to know these prevalent companions. BugGuide is a Web site that helps identify bugs. The site includes a ready-to-use guide and also allows you to submit pictures if you can't ID the creature on your own. Once you upload the pictures, the online community helps determine what kind of crawly thing you have encountered.

Additionally, as you share photos, you contribute to citizen science by helping track encounters with insects and arachnids.

To visit BugGuide, click here.