First time on IDmyBee?
Here is a suggestion of the steps you can follow to identify your bee using IDmyBee.

0. Make sure it is a bee.

If you are not 100% sure your insect is a bee, you may want to visit this page here.

1. Identify your bee genus using 'IDmyBee - Genera'.

Before to try to identify the species, check what genus your specimen belong to. It will help you narrow down the list of potential species and gives you first information about your insect. The online identification tool is based on Xper3. If you need help about the use of this tool, visit our Xper3 Identification tool tutorial here.
Quick Tips for using the tool:
  • Answer descriptors at the top of the list. There are a lot of them, but the most relevant descriptors are presented at the top of the list, which is updated each time. You don't have to select the first one, but you don't need to scroll too much unless you are actively looking for a specific character.
  • State pictures get larger if you pass your mouse cursor over them.
  • Click on 'submit' (green button at the top) between each description. In theory you could answer all of the presented descriptors at once, but it multiplies the  risks of making mistakes. Plus, since some descriptors appear only after you answered others, you may end up with no identification while having missed important descriptors.
  • If you hesitate between two states for a descriptor, select both of them. Of course, if there is only two states to this descriptor, you should move on and select another descriptor.
  • You ended up with an identification? Also check the top options in the crossed out list to make sure there is no mistake. You can still view the disregarded options, and the most relevant ones are at the top. They are often one or two descriptors away from your answers, and since we all make mistakes, checking these options could save your identification.
* IDmyBee - Genera is still in its beta-test phase. Please use it in combination with other keys and send us your feedbacks.

2. Check your result with the corresponding genus page.

Make sure you identified the right genus using the data on the website.
While some information and some pictures are embedded in IDmyBee - Genera, the webpage likely contains more information. You can navigate directly to this page or use the list of genera here. If it is your first time, we advise you to check first how these pages are structured here.

3. If available, use the data from the genus page to identify your species.

In the genus page, there are 3 types of data that can help you identify your species:
  • Direct species identification criterion (for genera with few species)
  • Interactive identification tools (when available, this may take a while to produce them)
  • References containing classic identification keys. You can check the list of these references and whether we have pdf copy of them.

4. Remember to acknowledge IDmyBee in your work

If it is a report or a presentation, please include IDmyBee in the acknowledgements.
If it is a publication in a scientific journal or a book, please cite the references associated to the packages you used for your work.
It is an important step to keep people motivated to develop efficient identification tools and maintain them up to date.