Resources for MIIDGE

It’s two weeks till MIIDGE time! We thought we’d lead up to these 72 hours of concentration on the spineless animals among us by listing some of the resources you can use to identify and learn about invertebrates. You probably know even more books, websites, and videos than we’ve listed here; if you comment on this post with more resources, we’ll add them to this list.

First off, let’s call out three great generalist resources:

  • iNaturalist itself. Have you explored the taxa pages on iNat yet? Click on the More button at the top, then on Taxa Info, to bring you to the landing page for information on all taxa covered by iNaturalist. Or filter the maps for, say, sawflies in Massachusetts, so you can look at what other observers have found (21 Research-Grade Typical Sawfly species, in case you’re interested).
  • Charley Eiseman and Noah Charney’s book, Tracks & Sign of Insects and Other Invertebrates: A Guide to North American Species, is utterly fascinating and a must-have for all invert naturalists (not to mention that Charley is a member of this project!).
  • Speaking of project members, you also need Tom Murray’s Insects of New England & New York. “Need” is the right word; this field guide has photos of over 1250 species in our region.

The rest of these resources we’re going to organize by taxonomic group and list quite briefly, without complete bibliographic information, just so we can cram this all in. Links are provided only for websites.

Multiple Taxa

  • Borror, Donald J., and Richard E. White. A Field Guide to Insects: America North of Mexico.
  • Eaton, Eric R., and Kenn Kaufman. Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America.
  • Kenney, Leo P., and Matthew R. Burne. A Field Guide to the Animals of Vernal Pools.
  • Klots, Elsie B. The New Field Book of Freshwater Life.
  • BugGuide: https://bugguide.net/node/view/15740

Lepidoptera

  • Beadle, David, and Seabrooke Leckie. Peterson Field Guide to Moths of Northeastern North America.
  • Brock, Jim P., and Kenn Kaufmann. Butterflies of North America.
  • Wagner, David L. Caterpillars of Eastern North America.
  • Moth Photographers Group: https://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/

Odonata

  • Lam, Ed. Damselflies of the Northeast.
  • Nikula, Blair, Jennifer L. Ryan, and Matthew R. Burne. A Field Guide to the Dragonflies and Damselflies of Massachusetts, 2nd ed.
  • Odonata Central: https://www.odonatacentral.org/#/

Coleoptera

  • Pearson, David L., C. Barry Knisley, and Charles J. Kazilek. A Field Guide to the Tiger Beetles of the United States and Canada.
  • White, Richard E. A Field Guide to the Beetles of North America.

Ants

  • Ellison, Aaron M., et al. A Field Guide to the Ants of New England.

Freshwater Mussels

  • Nadeau, Ethan. Freshwater Mussels and the Connecticut River Watershed.
Posted on June 7, 2020 01:18 PM by lynnharper lynnharper

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