a student’s guide to insect identification software on the web

7/29/2019 A Students Guide to Insect Identification Software on the Web

1/21

A Students Guide to Insect

Identification Software on the Web

Maggie Tai Tucker

Zoology 445 (honors project)Spring 2003


2/21

Why look at web software?

Several potential advantages:

Databases searchable in many differentways (by characters, by descriptions, by

family, etc.) Can offer couplet choices one at a time,

less confusing for beginners.

Can link to more detailed information,photos, illustrations. Essentially no spacelimitations.


3/21

Potential shortcomings

If students can find info on the web, theymay not learn to use a written key, whichremains the standard.

Free public keys tend to specialize in onetopic or in one area, based on whosponsored the project.

May be very shallow, e.g. only to order.

Creating a key is a huge undertaking both building the database and makingthe links to guide users through it.


4/21

Criteria used in this review

# of taxa (as a point of comparison, thewritten key used in our class Bland 1978 includes 3200+ taxa)

Level of expertise needed to use

Quality of photos or illustrations

Availability/accessibility

Cost


5/21

Programs reviewed

Bug-Net (UK) simple, accurate IDs to order

City Bug (Berkeley) most suitable for children

COMTESA (Oregon State Univ.) the most

detailed of the online keys, but limited coverage DAISY (UK/Costa Rica/US) an automated ID

project for conservation use, included here onlyto let students know what a key might look likefar in the future

WoodyBug 2.0 (Univ. of Florida) not a key, butphotos, text, and links on some commonfamilies; strong on biology and insect life history


6/21

Bug-Net: Summary

Web site created by asenior at Univ. ofHertfordshire

Focus is on UK spp.

Series of coupletchoices directs usersto correct order

Web links to more infoon orders, suborders.

http://www.bug-net.co.uk/index.html


7/21

Bug-Net: Best couplet interface


8/21

Bug-Net Features

CATEGORY FEATURES NOTES

# of taxa 19 orders Several examplesper order; focusis on UK insects

Level of user

expertise

Low

Quality ofphotos, illos.

Excellent Photos, slides,drawings

Availability/accessibility

Medium Works only withNetscape

Cost Free

Interface design Excellent


9/21

City Bug: Description

Joint project ofOakland Schools andUC Berkeley

Aim: To educate kids

K-12 and the public One of its search tools

lets you check offknown features of theinsect such as habitatand body type

Users can e-mailqueries to UCentomologists

http://www.cnr.berkeley.edu/citybugs/main.htm


10/21

City Bug Features


# of taxa 36 orders Common namesused; focus is onSF Bay taxa

Level of user

expertise

Low

Quality ofphotos/drawings

_ None availableyet

Availability _ Most areas notyet completed

Cost Free

Interface design Good Appropriate forchildren


11/21

COMTESA: Description

Computer Taxonomy and Ecology of Soil Animals

Covers mainly soil animals found in Pacific NW:Coleoptera, Isopoda, Acari, Collembola, a fewHymenoptera

Includes some dichotomous, some synoptic keys

Original Mac Hypercard version was designed soresearchers could tailor ID process to localspecies. (BSA has a copy of this.)

Moved onto the Web in 2002.

http://www.ent.orst.edu/comtesa/


12/21

COMTESA: Primitive but clear illustrations


13/21

COMTESA: Most detailed list of characters


14/21

Comtessa Features


# of taxa ~ 200 Can be used toID to species

Level of userexpertise

High No explanationsof characters

Quality ofphotos/illos.

Poor

Availability Good

Cost Free

Interface design Clunky, but itworks


15/21

DAISY Description

Project to developautomated insect IDsoftware (image from aspecial camera isanalyzed)

Aim: For non-specialists to

be able to ID insect speciesas a means of assessingstatus of a local ecosystem

Intended to helpimplement Convention onBiological diversity

Target group is Ophioninae(a suborder ofIchneumonidae)

Joint effort by researchersin UK-Costa Rica-US

http://chasseur.usc.edu/pups/projects/daisy.html


16/21

DAISY Features


# of taxa 300+ Still in pilotstage


Low

Quality ofphotos/drawings

_ It takes a photoand comparesto reference

Availability _ Commercialunit in

development

Cost Likely to behigh

Need cameraunit & software

Interface design Likely to besimple

Designed forfield conditions


17/21

Univ. of Florida: Summary

Not a true key, it claims tobe a knowledgebase

Central directory photosfunction as a simplified key

Available both as CD-ROM

and on a department website (web site hard to find!)

Aim: to educate both thegeneral public andstudents of pestmanagement

Other databases in theseries: Bees & Wasps,Mole Crickets, and aButterfly Tutorial. http://woodypest.ifas.ufl.edu/insect.htm
http://woodypest.ifas.ufl.edu/insect.htmhttp://woodypest.ifas.ufl.edu/insect.htm


18/21

Univ. of Fla. Features


# of taxa ~ 75 Focus is on SE spp.e.g. cotton aphid


Low Many terms defined;links to glossary

Quality ofphotos/illos.

Excellent Photos of host plants,biocontrol spp., too

Availability Medium Site not findable bysearch engine

Cost CD: $10

Web site: free

Interface design CD: poor

Web site: good

Must click onInsect.htm file tobegin using CD; itsnot obvious


19/21

A word on specialty web sites

As useful and in some cases more usefulthan these keys are the many web sitesdevoted to a particular family or subfamilyof insect.

For example, if trying to key out aCoccinellid beetle with 7 spots, try typing

7 spot lady beetle into a search engine.

Nearly 50 links appear, most providing thescientific species name and someproviding photos or illustrations


20/21

Example of a good specialty site

http://www.uoguelph.ca/~samarsha/lady-beetles.htm


21/21

Conclusions

No software key is currently as thorough as awritten general key, or as detailed as a writtenspecialty key on a particular order or suborder.

If one comes out that has a comparable level of

detail, it will most likely be from the publisher ofa written key.

COMTESA is the most directly relevant tostudents at the Univ. of Washington, because ofits level of detail, clear illustrations, and focus on

species found in the Pacific NW The Univ. of Florida web sites and CDs are a good

general teaching resource.

a student’s guide to insect identification software on the web

Documents