Little Creatures app for iPhone and iPad

Field guide to a variety of Australian Invertebrates based on the Gaia Guide website (http://www.gaiaguide.info/).

Species include:

Butterflies and moths
Dragonflies and Damselflies
Cicadas
Lady Beetles
Christmas Beetles
Weevils
Cockroaches
Grasshoppers, Locusts and Katydids
Stick insects
Mantises
Lacewings
Spiders

For many of these groups of species, the available identification information is sparse. This reflects the great variety in Australia. For many of them, it is sensible to begin identification based upon location data. The app supports searching by location for most of the species.

The more complete descriptions (e.g. those for moths and butterflies) include several identification photos. The descriptions also include distribution maps. Along with information about distinguishing features, details of size, habitat preferences, diet and other details, this information provides an increasingly effective means of identifying species that can be found in Australia.

To use the guide, drill down though the species groups to find a group that you think is likely to contain the species you have observed. Then you can tap "filter" to see all identification images for species in the chosen group. You can refine the filter via the filter tab, selecting only those species that have the chosen colours. The required accuracy of the colour filter can be adjusted to refine or broaden the number of species that match your search. For groups with size and wingspan data, such as birds, you can also filter based upon size and wingspan estimates.

Once you find an image that matches, view the description details for that species to confirm the identification. Confirm by tapping the + icon to add a new record. Fill out your record details, add a sound recording or photo as evidence, then upload the record to the server so that it can be kept for posterity and shared with others.

The information in this app is the result of collaboration by many contributors. All users of this app are welcome to contribute to the quality of the app by adding descriptive details, identification photos and sound recordings. If you have knowledge that would improve the usefulness of this app. please consider adding it via the Gaia Guide website (http://gaiaguide.info/).