July 1, 2009 (Vol. 29, No. 13)
URL:
http://www.whatsthiscaterpillar.co.uk
Rating:
Strong Points: Large collection of photos, description
Weak Points: Written descriptions not yet linked to the photos
Summary:
Here’s a site with a title fit for a television game show. (Watch out, Jeopardy!) The title also succinctly describes the services offered by the website: written descriptions and photos to help the curious observer identify caterpillars that have been seen. This page specifically hosts species in Britain and Europe (over 800 of them), but there is also a link to the sister site, “What’s This North American Caterpillar?” For both sites, one can browse through photo galleries based on generic descriptions like “hairy/spiny”, or one can peruse the descriptions of species within each scientific family. There is, unfortunately, a disconnect between the photos and the written descriptions, but the little camera icon on the right-hand side of the page tells me that connecting the two is a work in progress. In addition to the caterpillar identification tools, there is also a “glossary and structure of caterpillars” page and a caterpillar identity forum.
