(a species of owlet moth (Noctuid)) Some caterpillars, after they emerge from their egg, can increase their weight by 25,000 times.

Skip to page content

Primary navigation

Identification forums

Welcome

Common frog, Rana temporaria

Welcome to the Museum's identification forum where amateur naturalists and experts can ask questions about all aspects of UK biodiversity. You can share identification tips on UK plants, animals, rocks and minerals, and Museum experts will help to answer your queries and identify your specimens.

Whether you've found a strange looking insect in your garden, or uncovered a fossil on the beach, this is the place to find out more about it. Simply choose the relevant forum below and ask your question.

Identification forums
  • Clouded yellow butterfly
    Bug forum

    Ask questions and share identification tips about all types of British bugs, from bees to beetles and wasps to woodlice.  Museum insect-experts are on hand to answer your questions.

  • Bladder wrack, Fucus vesiculosus
    On the seashore identification forum

    Discuss seashore life and ask the experts for help identifying your finds including seaweeds, crabs, shells and animal bones.  What unusual life might you find?

  • Shepherd's crown echinoid, Micraster coranguinum (Leske)
    Fossils and rocks identification forum

    Fossils are a key to finding out about species that lived in the past. If you find a rock or fossil you would like to know more about, post your question here and our experts may be able to help.

  • Field vole bones from an owl pellet
    Bones, teeth and skulls identification forum

    It can be quite a challenge to identify which part of the skeleton a bone belongs to, but our experts may be able to help.  If you find a bone, tooth or skull then ask your question here.

  • Common frog, Rana temporia
    All animal life identification forum

    Animal life is very diverse and includes everything from snails to snakes, elephants to echinoderms, badgers to bitterns, and squirrels to sun-stars.  Ask Museum experts for help identifying them.

  • Silverfish, Lepisma saccharina
    Your habitat - home and garden species identification forum

    We share our homes, gardens and local areas with all sorts of creatures from the natural world. Find out what wildlife you could be living with and let us help you identify it.

  • Cowslips, Primula veris, in the wildlife garden at the Museum
    Plant identification forum

    Post your photos here and ask questions about British plants, from seaweeds to sundews and bluebells to bracken. Museum experts will help identify them for you.

  • Vegetation from La Amistad Binational Park in Central America
    Foreign finds identification forum

    Holidays or visits abroad bring new opportunities to observe nature, and to look for species you might not find at home. Tell us about the interesting creatures you discover outside the UK.

Latest posts in the identification forums

Identification experts

A team of Museum scientists who run the Identification and Advisory Service will help to answer your identification queries. They work in the new Angela Marmont Centre for UK Biodiversity.

Their special interests include fossils, rocks, plants, insects and other creatures.

Bug forum: Discuss all types of bugs
More information