The number of Japanese iNat users is still small, and sometimes taxa that are obviously not distributed in Japan have been suggested. So, for non-Japanese speakers, I will provide links to websites that are useful when searching Japanese arthropods.
Some of these websites are created by experts, while others are created by people who photograph insects as a hobby. Since there is a huge difference in reliability, we need to find out that reliability is high enough or not. There are many sites with high Google search rankings that are unreliable because their purpose is to generate advertising revenue and their content is thin. I avoided to select these low quality sites. In general, the broader the taxonomic group covered, the more likely there will be mistakes.
Please note that the names of the websites are my translations and not the official ones. If you know of any other useful websites, please let me know!
幼虫図鑑 [A Catalogue of the Larvae]
*Click on the "縮小画像で検索" button on the right, and then specify the larva's characters (color, presence of hair, etc.) to see a list of images.
ブログ「廊下のむし探検」付録 [Appendix to the blog "Exploring the Hallway Bug"]
Click on "画像リスト動物編" for animals and "画像リスト植物編" for plants.
神戸のトンボ [Odonata of KOBE since 1995]
List of Japanese Odonata is useful.
みんなで作る日本産蛾類図鑑V2 [An Identification Guide of Japanese Moths Compiled by Everyone V2]
Select the family you want to search from the list at the bottom of the page, and then click "成虫縮小画像一覧" or "幼虫など縮小画像一覧" to display a list of images.
日本産ゾウムシデータベース [Japanese Snout Beetles Database]
Unfortunately, the "画像検索 image search" that was useful for searching names no longer seems to be available due to the end of support for Adobe Flash Player. To find out the name, you can use the "目録一覧 catalog list".
日本列島の甲虫全種目録 [The Complete List of Beetles in the Japanese Archipelago]
No photo. List only.
みんなで作る双翅目図鑑 [The Catalogue of Japanese Dipterans Compiled by Everyone]
It should be noted that there are many species of Diptera, so it is often impossible to determine the ID even if an individual looks similar to the one in the image.
ハナアブの世界 [Hoverflies World]
To see the photos, click on "ハナアブ写真集".
寺山&ケロ書房へようこそ ! [Welcome to Terayama's home Page !]
日本産有剣膜翅類目録(2016年度版)Ver.5 [Catalog of stinging wasps from Japan (2016 edition) Ver.5] list only
日本産膜翅類の検索と解説 [Keys and description of Japanese stinging wasps (Infraorder Aculeata)]
はじめまして!!林成多のページへようこそ [Nice to meet you! Welcome to Masakazu Hayashi's page!]
WEB版ネクイハムシ図鑑 [Web Version of The Catalogue of Aquatic Leaf Beetles (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Donaciinae)]
水生ガムシ幼虫図鑑 [The Catalogue of Aquatic water scavenger beetles larvae (Coleoptera: Hydrophilidae)]
日本産ヒラタドロムシ図鑑 [water penny beetles (Coleoptera: Psephenidae)]
Web版 ヒラタドロムシ幼虫図鑑 [Web version of the catalogue of water penny beetles larvae (Coleoptera: Psephenidae)]
日本産ゲンゴロウ亜科幼虫概説 [An Explanation on the Immature Stages of Subfamily Dytiscinae (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae) of Japan]
ナガハナノミのページ [Page of Toe-winged beetles (Coleoptera: Ptilodactylidae)]
山陰のヒメドロムシ図鑑 [The Catalogue of riffle beetles (Coleoptera: Elmidae) in the San-in region]
日本海沿岸の海岸性甲虫図鑑 [The Catalogue of Coastal Beetles of the Japan Sea Coast]
Comments
Amazing. I use a lot of books in my research, but not everything I find in books. Now I am sure that future observations will be cataloged correctly. Thank You.
This is great! Thank you @sable
I have been using this site for dragonflies for a couple of years:
https://www.odonata.jp/index.html Odonata of Kobe
Recently I stumbled onto another dragonfly site:
https://tombozukan.net/
What do you think of these?
Thanks for the comment!
@faerout I often refer to those two as well. I think there is probably no mistake in the identification of either of them. The former is more specialized, but the latter has more photos and you can see dragonflies from different angles.
I also recommend my friend's blog(http://aeschna.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-26.html).
Japanese dragonflies have been well studied and wonderfully guides (e.g. https://www.bun-ichi.co.jp/tabid/57/pdid/978-4-8299-8408-6/Default.aspx) are available, so there are few mistakes. For more detailed distribution and recent research, you may want to refer to the books mentioned above.
Thank you. I haven't yet bought a book for dragonflies in Japan yet as it is a lot easier for me to read Japanese on a computer. I'm sure the book photos are great, but it's quite time consuming to try to read through the technically specialized language of insect identification even in my native language. I'm a beginner. Maybe someday there will be a quality English guide to dragonflies of Japan.
@faerout
Come to think of it, there are a lot of guides or catalogues out there in Japan, but I haven't heard of any being translated into English (maybe I'm just ignorant). "Dragonflies of Japan" is a specialized book that can also be used by researchers, but it is fun to just look at the beautiful photos.
I've also added Yagopedia. The "ヤゴ図鑑 https://yagopedia.com/idtfy_pic.php" page is breathtaking.
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