arthropodafotos.de

Welcome to arthropodafotos.de

With its picture galleries, "arthropodafotos.de" provides assistance in the determination of animals and plants.
A current overview of the number of species presented here can be found in the adjacent table.
The most extensive of the galleries with macro photos of 2456 species from 376 families is dedicated to arthropods (Arthropoda). In addition to pictures of adult, sexually mature arthropods there are also a number of larvae and pupae images.

Random image 8010: Phlogophora meticulosa
DE, Chemnitz, Stadtpark

Limits of determination by photos

With more than 1.3 million known and certainly still many unknown species, a determination of arthropods solely based on photos is only in a few cases possible, provided that details can be viewed relevant for determination. For the determination of arthropods more information about the habitat, location, date, to the special circumstances of find and an indication of size are usually indispensable.
Many arthropods live and feed, at least during part of their development, on plants. Some specialize in one or a few plant species. In such cases, knowledge of the host plant is very helpful for a determination, or makes this only possible because similar species that live on other plant can be excluded.
While the chances of determining for the less than 100 Central European dragonfly species are relatively good, many representatives of the species-rich families of ichneumonids and braconids only in exceptional cases can be determined to species level.

The scientific names of arthropods whose determination is subject to residual uncertainty are marked with a cf. (Latin: confer for "compare"), e.g. [genus name] cf. [species name] or, if the residual uncertainty already refers to the genus name, cf. [genus name].

Navigation

Use the top navigation bar can be accessed from each side directly to the individual galleries and the home. In the underlying navigation bar, there is a switch between scientific () and English or German common names () for the left column of gallery pages. In case of non-availability of common names scientific names are used. In the family overviews of the arthropods gallery can be clicked on "All thumbnails" in the lower navigation bar for a quick overview of all images of a family.