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 …

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/

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

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.

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.

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.

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 in…

Welcome to the forum @jack_42 !

https://www.butterflyidentification.org/ BUTTERFLY, MOTHS, & SKIPPERS North American Species from the Abbot’s Sphinx to the Zebra Swallowtail can be listed by state

Guides to Butterflies and Dragonflies of the Americas

Nature Talk

mira_l_b April 29, 2020, 1:04am 10

also see, https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/current-or-general-favorite-field-guides/656

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Guides to Butterflies and Dragonflies of the Americas

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