Favorite online ID resources
There are some fantastic online resources for identifying the many life forms that I encounter. Here are some that are more targeted in scope and useful for a novice. My choices are slanted towards, but not limited to, California. There are others (BugGuide, Moth Photographers Group are examples) that are better suited to someone with more than a beginning knowledge of a topic. Some of the links have been provided by other iNat users so please leave a comment if you know of other fine online resources.
Guides
Herps
California Reptiles and Amphibians
http://www.californiaherps.com/info/identification.html
Shasta Co. Field Herpetological Resource Site
Look for links to specific keys on the left.
http://www.shastaherps.org/
Tadpoles of Coastal Southern California - USGC guide
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/ProjectSubWebPage.aspx?SubWebPageID=4&ProjectID=75
A Field Guide to the Reptiles and Amphibians of Coastal Southern California
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/ProjectSubWebPage.aspx?SubWebPageID=1&ProjectID=75
Reptiles and Amphibians of Arizona
http://www.reptilesofaz.org/
Spiders
Frequently Encountered Spiders in California
http://nature.berkeley.edu/~callobius/cbcstuff/common_spiders/big_spi_quilt.html
Plants
CalFlora
http://www.calflora.org/entry/wgh.html
San Diego County Plant Atlas
http://www.sdplantatlas.org/
Simplified Key to Conifer Genera of the US
American Museum of Natural History
http://www.amnh.org/learn/biodiversity_counts/ident_help/Text_Keys/conifer_key.htm
Leaf Key to Common Trees in Louisiana
https://www.lsuagcenter.com/NR/rdonlyres/BA8FFA18-B7CD-4D98-88FF-AF234D5F9ACD/18437/pub1669LeafKey.pdf
Wildflower Search Engines
http://www.wildflowersearch.com/
http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q?guide=Wildflowers
Ocean Plants
Seaweed & Kelp
Fantastic sight by Emerald Diving
http://emeralddiving.com/id_seaweeds.html
Guide to Seaweeds and Seagrasses
is focused on Netarts Bay, Oregon but is very helpful for west coast species.
http://www.netartsbaytoday.org/html/guide_to_seasweeds.html
Lady Beetles
Discover Life guide
http://www.discoverlife.org/20/q?guide=Ladybug
Galls
I have a whole journal entry on just Gall identification sites
http://www.inaturalist.org/journal/finatic/2183
Flies
Zurqui All-Diptera Biodiversity Inventory
Guide to identify the most common fly families
http://phorid.net/zadbi/education/how-to-identify-flies/
Mushrooms
Key to Major Groups of Mushrooms
http://www.mushroomexpert.com/major_groups.html
Terrestrial Mollusc
Nice interactive key by University of Florida
http://idtools.org/id/mollusc/key.php?key=tmt
Sea Turtles
NOAA
http://oilspill.fsu.edu/images/pdfs/turtle-id-placard.pdf
Bees
Bumble Bees of the Western United States
http://www.xerces.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/Western_BB_guide.pdf
Bumble Bees of the Eastern United States
http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/documents/BumbleBeeGuideEast2011.pdf
Moths
Santee - San Diego County Moth
http://www.pbase.com/m3ling/santee_moths
Moths of Orange County, California
http://nathistoc.bio.uci.edu/lepidopt/Moths.htm
Moth Photographers Group
http://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/MainMenu.shtml
BugGuide Silhouette Key to Major Moth Families
http://bugguide.net/node/view/21675
Mammals
Coyote Subspecies
Various other places on the web have the same information but I find this map and key the easiest to use.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/archive/2/27/20130204055227!Coyote_subspecies_distribution_map.svg
Multiple Guides
Multiple Identification Keys for Florida fauna
http://www.flbenthos.org/cgi-bin/cp-app.cgi?usr=51H16964&rnd=875666&rrc=N&affl&cip&act&aff&pg=cat&ref=links_online_taxonomic&catstr=HOME:links
Discover Life Identification Guides
Many different guides that are useful to varying degrees.
http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q
Sonoran Desert Naturalist
Wide range of flora and fauna
http://www.arizonensis.org/sonoran/fieldguide/index.html
Jim's Place
Lassen County in Northeastern California
Mountain Meadows Invertebrates
https://sites.google.com/a/calneva.org/jim-s-place/mmbinvertebrates
