[Adamdjeffe]

Actually I am going to be a bit of a hassler here ... Helix and others who know how to key things out ... I wonder if you would mind (periodically and as you have the time) explaining (as you have done here) how you came to the decision that you did?

Today I have had help on flickr about identifying something that was completely new to me and that step by step process is a huge help... I went to a proper key AFTER the general explanation ... but just couldn't do it on my own.


I "knew" it was going to be an insect, like I "knew" that thing of mine was going to be some kind of lerp / scale thing ... but as to _why_ ... well that's the difference.
That's not to deny the beauty of people just knowing ofcourse, but I am trying really hard to get into knowing WHY.

Maybe I should be concentrating on adding to that IDing thread with a few keys from the net .... tomorrow (maybe).

[LINETFAD]

NSW Govt has keys to the leafhoppers and fruitflies of NSW. Also one to the lettuce-living aphids, which probably has more limited use (although it does contain spp that feed on other commonly cultivated plants).

If the keys are a bit tricky to follow all the way through, there are also pics.

[CoiI8XIj]

We categorise objects, that is what we do when we are keying. We do it all the time: that is a chair, that is a stool and that is a table. Most of the time we don't even realise we are doing it because as we learn we gather key identifying characteristics of what something 'is'. A spider has eight legs and eight eyes. Well, that isn't always true so we refine our knowledge base and our new knowledge base allows us discern more accurately and jump ahead to the result more quickly. But we still make mistakes; or gather more knowledge.

So, gather together the discernible characteristics of the thing you are trying to identify. You might not have all the information you want. Discriminate between choices along your journey but be prepared to backtrack if you notice discrepancies. You are going to disguard choices along the way don't be afraid to, finish where the logic puzzle leads you. You don't always have every piece of the puzzle. More information down the track may lead to a better identification! All the pieces do fit the puzzle but sometimes not all the pieces are known.

When you ID from a picture you are going to have to make guesses. The plants and animals you find first in the field are going to be the common ones and that is where to begin your search.

Your location and the known distributions may help you.

I don't use keys but if I turn my chair around and look behind me I can see at least seven different keys on the book shelf so I am not sure that is a lie.

[Biradallo]

Using keys depends on the intention of the author along with the skills and knowledge of the user. Often you need a microscope and a botanical or zoological dictionary to determine features.

I've got some botany keys the require an high level of knowledge as the terms used are difficult without previous study. They were designed by botanists for botanists. *Shakes fist at Clifford and Ludlow*

I've got others that can be used by children.

I like the Lucid Keys which allow you to make choices on features you are able to identify and narrow the final identification down to a group only using those features. I believe that many keys that are developed in the future will follow this model rather than the traditional dichotomous structure which can get stuck if features are seasonal or hard to identify.

[Peertantyb]

>>I like the Lucid Keys which allow you to make choices on features you are able to identify and narrow the final identification down to a group only using those features. I believe that many keys that are developed in the future will follow this model rather than the traditional dichotomous structure which can get stuck if features are seasonal or hard to identify.

[LINETFAD]

Getting a copy of 'Worms to Wasps' by Mark Harvey & Alan Yen might be a handy start for the terrestrial inverts. I think it's out of print, but your library will probably have it. It is useful for getting things down to order, which is not always easy for some of those strange critters.

[Adamdjeffe]

Getting a copy of 'Worms to Wasps' by Mark Harvey & Alan Yen might be a handy start for the terrestrial inverts. I think it's out of print, but your library will probably have it. It is useful for getting things down to order, which is not always easy for some of those strange critters.

I went hunting for it second hand and look what I found for MOrrie

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/Book...%3D64%26y%3D10

[LINETFAD]

CSIRO Publishing has a nice collection of insect field guides (butterflies, stick insects, katydids, dragonflies etc), but stocking a library gets quite expensive after a while. In fact, after a very short while. The butterfly one is all pics, no key, but the others have both.

Edited to add this: Whoa! There's a forthcoming book on insect-induced plant galls.

[Adamdjeffe]

"Whoa" indeedy!

Thanks everyone ... lots to go on with there

[Adamdjeffe]

http://www.publish.csiro.au/pid/6814.htm
"Life in a Gall

The Biology and Ecology of Insects that Live in Plant Galls
Rosalind Blanche

Colour photographs, Line Art
80 pages, 215 x 148 mm
Publisher: CSIRO PUBLISHING

Small Paperback - June 2012
ISBN: 9780643106437 - AU $ 29.95
Price includes postage within Australia and New Zealand

What are plant galls and how are they caused? This book introduces the Australian native insects that induce galls on plants and the plant species that host them. It explores the ways the insects have adapted to living part of their lives in the confined spaces of galls, and describes the strategies employed by different insect groups to find a suitable site to induce a gall, obtain food, mate and escape the gall.

Life in a Gall also looks at the predators, parasitoids, inquilines, kleptoparasites and micro-organisms that prey on gall-inducing insects and the ways the insects defend themselves from these enemies. It covers the problems gall-inducing insects can cause for agriculture, forestry and horticulture, and gives examples of several pest species. On the positive side, the book describes the essential services gall-inducing insects provide by pollinating figs, controlling invasive weeds and contributing to indigenous food.

The final chapter provides tips for people who want to collect and study galls, and shows that answering many of the questions still surrounding gall-inducing insects is not restricted to professional scientists but can be achieved by diligent amateurs too. "

[daguy]

"I like the Lucid Keys which allow you to make choices on features you are able to identify and narrow the final identification down to a group only using those features. I believe that many keys that are developed in the future will follow this model rather than the traditional dichotomous structure which can get stuck if features are seasonal or hard to identify."


Lucid keys / electronic keys are now widely used and many people are now generating them using lucid builder. They way they work is that they filter a database - so that you knock out taxa with addition of each character state and narrow it down to a set of few species which you then go look at. Euclid and Wattle works just fine I have found - and I've been using it for nasty diverse regions. The good thing about electronic keys versus a dichotomous key is that they are still usable if your material / collection doesn't have all the right bits (like flowers). Whereas with dichotmous key may fall down when you have material that lacks characters or parts requireed to be scored on. An electronic key (which is really a filter and dataset), can be used on sterile material.


And some dichotomous keys are impenetrable labyrinths and portals to hell (narrows eyes at Heliotropium).

[daguy]

http://www.identifylife.org/

[Peertantyb]

Lucid keys sound very good in theory and look good with only casual observation, but in practise I have found them to be mostly disappointing. They might be better than nothing, but not much more.

They are also very irritating when you want to check on a group and cannot remember the family, as you then have to go through the entire key to find it. And if you hurry and get one or two features wrong, you have to start over again, which can be very time consuming, especially if you just want to check a couple of points.

[Biradallo]

LooktoSee, have a look at The Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants key from CSIRO. It's an excellent example of what can be achieved using Lucid. If you get a couple of points wrong, you uncheck them and select another. No starting from scratch. You can get example pictures to compare your sample with to help people who don't know the difference between involucre linear-lanceolate and involucre pinnatifid.

Compared with the out of print and evil beyond redemption Clifford and Ludlow that I had to use for Uni, it's like pulling a fork out of your eye.

But each to their own.

[Peertantyb]

Thanks for that Teleost, it is vastly superior to the ones I have used, which are probably early attempts using these keys. This CSIRO one is very much more professional and covers far more ground and in greater detail. If the new ones are as good, I shall definitely give them another go.

[awagsFare]

I went hunting for it second hand and look what I found for MOrrie

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/Book...%3D64%26y%3D10

Thanks for the thought jj. By Mordecai Cubitt Cooke I see, born 1825. What a great name. I recall seeing his books on Australian fungi in the uni library, complete with hand drawn coloured illustrations. As well, he edited Hardwicke's Science Gossip: A Monthly Medium of Interchange and Gossip for Students and Lovers of Nature. Sounds a bit like chat, doesn't it?

He seems to have been a prolific and wide ranging writer, as he also wrote The Seven Sisters of Sleep, with some interesting chapter titles, including 'Gunja at Home' !

[Adamdjeffe]

Thanks for the thought jj. ...!

Did you also see that the most expensive book sold by abebooks last month (thousands of pounds I think it was) was also a fungi book?