BugGuide
{{Short description|Database of insects and arthropods and online community}}
{{Infobox website
| name = BugGuide
| logo = File:Logo_for_bugguide.net.gif
| screenshot =
| caption =
| url = {{URL|http://bugguide.net/}}
| commercial = No
| type = Entomology, Citizen science
| language = English
| registration = not required, except to comment and post
| owner = Iowa State University
| founder = [http://naturecloseups.com Troy Bartlett]
| launch_date = {{Start date and age|2003|df=yes|br=yes}}
| current_status = Online
| area_served = North America
}}
BugGuide (or BugGuide.net) is a website and online community of naturalists, both amateur and professional, who share observations of arthropods such as insects, spiders, and other related creatures.{{cite news|url=http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20110731/LIFE/307310010/-1/GETPUBLISHED03/Discovering-bugs-her-passion|title=Discovering bugs and her passion|work=The Des Moines Register|date=July 31, 2011|access-date=15 August 2011}}{{Dead link|date=November 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} The website consists of informational guide pages and many thousands of photographs of arthropods from the United States and Canada which are used for identification and research.{{cite journal|last1=McCullough|first1=Corinne|last2=Worthington|first2=Cakey|last3=Paradise|first3=Christopher J.|title=Using Digital Macrophotography to Measure Biodiversity, Identify Insects, and Enhance Outreach and Education|url=https://academic.oup.com/ae/article/59/3/176/6825|journal=American Entomologist|date=Fall 2013|volume=59|issue=3|pages=176–182|doi=10.1093/ae/59.3.176|doi-access=free}} The non-commercial site is hosted by the Iowa State University Department of Entomology. BugGuide was conceived by photographer Troy Bartlett in 2003 and since 2006 has been maintained by John VanDyk, an adjunct assistant professor of entomology and a senior systems analyst at Iowa State University.[https://bugguide.net/user/view/612 "John VanDyk's Contributor Page"] on BugGuide.Net. The website has been recognized for helping change the public perception of insects.{{cite journal|last=Ahern|first=Kevin|title=WebWatch – Done Buggy|journal=BioTechniques|date=November 2009|volume=47|issue=5|page=909|doi=10.2144/000113266|doi-access=free}}
According to gardening author Margaret Roach, "The site is where naturalists of all levels share photos of 'insects, spiders and their kin' to foster enthusiasm and expand the knowledge base about these often-overlooked (and as BugGuide points out, 'oft-maligned') creatures."{{cite web|url=http://awaytogarden.com/why-im-abuzz-about-bugguide-net|title=why i'm abuzz about bugguide.net|last=Roach|first=Margaret|date=20 September 2012|work=A Way to Garden|access-date=13 December 2012}}
Statistics
According to VanDyk, BugGuide had over 809 million hits in 2010, averaging approximately 26 hits per second.{{cite web|url=https://archive.inside.iastate.edu/pdf/11/020311.pdf|title=Five questions for John VanDyk|last=Pounds|first=Diana|date=3 February 2011|publisher=Inside Iowa State|access-date=5 October 2014}} He also stated that in early 2011 the site consisted of almost 34,000 written pages representing about 23 percent of the estimated insect species in North America. In April 2012 the guide surpassed 500,000 photos.{{cite web|url=http://www.ent.iastate.edu/bugguide_half_million|title=BugGuide passes the half million mark|date=May 2012|publisher=Iowa State University, Department of Entomology|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120501194706/http://www.ent.iastate.edu/bugguide_half_million|archive-date=1 May 2012|url-status=dead|access-date=2 May 2012}} By October 2014, BugGuide had 30,774 species pages and 48,572 total pages, with over 808,718 images submitted by more than 27,846 contributors.{{cite web|url=https://bugguide.net/node/view/11181|title=System Statistics|date=6 October 2014|website=BugGuide|access-date=6 October 2014}} On 22 September 2014, BugGuide surpassed 1,000,000 pages (most of which are photographs).{{cite web|url=https://bugguide.net/node/view/1000000|title=longhorned beetle - Stenocorus vittiger|work=BugGuide|access-date=7 May 2015}}
Contributions to science
The photographs posted have contributed to or resulted in several scientific publications. A large proportion of images featured in an atlas of vespid wasps{{cite journal|last1=Buck|first1=Matthias|last2=Marshall|first2=Stephen A.|last3=Cheung|first3=David K.B.|title=Identification Atlas of the Vespidae (Hymenoptera, Aculeata) of the northeastern Nearctic region|journal=Canadian Journal of Arthropod Identification|date=19 February 2008|volume=5|doi=10.3752/cjai.2008.05|issn=1911-2173}} are credited to contributors to BugGuide.{{cite journal|last=Marshall|first=Stephen A.|title=Field photography and the Democratization of Arthropod Taxonomy|url=https://academic.oup.com/ae/article/54/4/207/2474920|journal=American Entomologist|date=Winter 2008|volume=54|issue=4|pages=207–210|doi=10.1093/ae/54.4.207|doi-access=free}} BugGuide photographs have detected new state records of invasive pest ants and beetles.{{cite journal|last1=MacGown|first1=J.A.|last2=Hill|first2=J.G.|year=2010|title=Two new exotic pest ants, Pseudomyrmex gracilis and Monomorium floricola (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) collected in Mississippi|url=http://midsouthentomologist.org.msstate.edu/pdfs/Vol3_2/Vol3_2_007.pdf|journal=Midsouth Entomologist|volume=3|pages=106–109|issn=1936-6019}}{{cite journal|last1=Aalbu|first1=Rolf L.|last2=Kanda|first2=Kojun|last3=Steiner| first3=Warren E. Jr. |title=Opatroides punctulatus Brullé now established in California (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae).|journal=The Pan-Pacific Entomologist|date=April 2009|volume=85|issue=2|pages=38–42|doi=10.3956/2008-24.1|s2cid=84913700}}
Geologist and moth collector Richard Wilson said of the site, "The BugGuide site is very useful for anyone finding an insect and it is very interactive on getting it identified if a picture can be taken."{{cite web|url=http://news.opb.org/article/the_moth_man_of_bay_center/|title=The Moth Man of Bay Center|last=Gable|first=Cate|date=19 July 2011|publisher=Oregon Public Broadcasting|access-date=15 August 2011|archive-date=27 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180127202835/http://news.opb.org/article/the_moth_man_of_bay_center/|url-status=dead}}
According to the site itself, BugGuide.net has been responsible for the identification of 11 new, previously undescribed species as of mid-2014. In addition, 12 species new to the Western Hemisphere were first identified via the site; another seven were new to North America; and numerous new country records (primarily the United States) and state/county sightings.{{Cite web|url=https://bugguide.net/node/view/504744|title=Bug Guide firsts list for Latin American Bug Guide project|website=BugGuide|access-date=6 August 2014}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Wikidata property|P2464}}
{{Wikispecies}}
- {{Official website|http://bugguide.net/}}
Category:Entomological databases
Category:Arthropods and humans