Identification questions??

[entity]

Hi everyone,
,
I rarely get on...but i have a lot of questions. I just started collecting at the age of 32...bit late in life i suppose. But anyway, what is the best way to go about identifying the insects I have captured. I know the obvious ones i can go online and et their taxonomy but the others that are a little harder to recognise i have no idea. I dont mean to sound overly ingnorant, but i guess i am.  any input would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Frank

[Paul K]

Older days when I was young the only source of identification was the library books.
I was able to identify only most common species. The Internet is the great source of information nowadays, however some times it takes hours to id some insects. I still have the hard time to id some moth species from rain forest ( noctuidae and some micro families).
Unless one have access to one of the large museum collection ID is often impossible .

Paul

[timmsyrj]

The website Butterflies and Moths of North America contains regional lists for most state counties, so this should narrow your search down, probably not all are listed but this will help eliminate species to close in on the correct I/d, firstly you need to get the genus right, then take it from there.
For me the best bit is the identification part, books or a website that concentrate on species in a given area are much better than books or websites that cover worldwide genus as you might find a photo that looks exactly like yours only to find out they don't occur in your country.

Rich

[entity]

Yeah i agree with you there. I have had better luck looking for id's in resources in my area. But I am coming across the same information now on the internet. Guess ill have to be getting some books then.