A major purpose of this website is an aid to identification.
However, it is important to realise what can and cannot be achieved from a photograph alone. This caveat is
stressed throughout, particularly in the case of the more difficult
groups. Good naturalists not only know things, they also know when
they don't know. Please bear the following in mind:
- Although the content is constantly expanding, many species are not yet depicted.
- Even some of those illustrated may not be reliably
identifiable by external appearance alone, and may exhibit a large amount
of variation and overlap with closely related taxa.
- Many such species require examination and dissection of actual specimens for definitive identification; photographs can never be a substitute for this.
- As with all insect groups,
a holistic approach to identification is recommended, considering
information such as foodplant, habitat, geographic location and time of
year, as well as external appearance.
- In summary, please be cautious and always try to verify identity using other sources.
All the photos
displayed here are believed to be correctly identified. In cases where
species identification is only tentative, this is clearly stated by the use of the prefix cf. We take all responsibility for potential misidentifications and
encourage you to contact us if you notice any suspect or obvious errors
in this regard. We appreciate all feedback, which helps us to improve
the quality of the site.
Tristan Bantock & Joe Botting 2009
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