I’m currently studying Natural Sciences in Italy but I’m taking an interest in the lepidoptera and odonata of the Americas so I was keen on hearing what you believe to be the most complete guides for their identification. They don’t necessarily need to be field guides they can also be encyclopedias or similar.
Thanks in advance and can’t wait to hear your opinions on the topic!
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For Costa Rica I came across this site: http://tropicleps.ch/?page=0&id=main
Certainly a lot to take in and I’m pretty sure the list isn’t even exhaustive, the biodiversity of neotropical Leps are absolutely insane.
For North America this may be helpful: https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/
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For North America, the bible for Odonata is Dennis Paulson’s two volume set called Dragonflies and Damselflies of the East & (not surprisingly) Dragonflies and Damselflies of the West
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For butterflies, I find that the Swift Guide to Butterflies of North America by Glassberg is my favorite. It has photos, covers all species in the US and Canada, and is good at pointing out differences between similar species.
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http://butterfliesofamerica.com/index.html
The name is slightly deceptive, it covers the Americas both North and South. Finding a complete guide to cover moths given their diversity would be almost impossible.
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Glassberg also has a Butterfly guide to Mexico and Central America. There are several regional moth guides in the US, including one for the western US by Paul Oppler and ones for the Northeastern and the Southeastern US by Beadle and Leckie.
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I own the Kaufman Field Guide to Butterflies of North America and I’ve found it to be very helpful in making IDs as it has arrows identifying spots to watch out for and well as range maps. No caterpillars though. ( https://www.amazon.com/Kaufman-Field-Butterflies-America-Guides/dp/0618768262 ) It includes a lot of rare butterflies and ones that only occasionally show up from the tropics.
I’ve also used this helpful website, which is geared towards the butterflies of Massachusetts, but is still very helpful. It lets you compare two species as long as they occur in MA. Not complete of the whole of North America, but a great resource. (Here: https://www.naba.org/chapters/nabambc/construct-group-page.asp?gr=All )
I’m sure there’s something out there for South America, but that would be a whole other book. :)
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https://www.butterflyidentification.org/
BUTTERFLY, MOTHS, & SKIPPERS
North American Species from the Abbot’s Sphinx to the Zebra Swallowtail
can be listed by state
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