Have a question about an insect, mite, spider or other invertebrate? Ask someone who studies it.
We’re a group of volunteers who try to get you in touch with the right person. Tell us your critter of choice, and we’ll put you in touch with someone who might be able to help. From there, you talk to them directly. The project is free to use. There is nothing to pay and nothing to buy. You do not need an account. No catch.
Study a group yourself? There’s a place for you here.
One form. A way into the world of invertebrates.
There are four steps to the project, and most of the work is on our side. Tell us what you’re looking for. A volunteer reviews the request and looks for a suitable specialist or contact. With your permission, they make an introduction. We follow up later to see where the request led.
You send your question or interest
A short form: what you’re drawn to, where you are, and the kind of help you’re after.
A volunteer reviews and claims it
Your request appears in our queue. A suitable volunteer reads it and takes responsibility for finding the right contact.
They make an introduction
With your permission, they connect you to a good contact: anyone from a curator or recorder to a society or a mentor.
We follow up
We check back a few weeks later to see whether it led somewhere, and what we can do next.
Send us your question and we will find where it belongs.
Send a short form: the group you’re curious about and the kind of help you’re after. It only takes a couple of minutes.
Behind the form is a network of volunteers who know these organisms well, from county recorders and museum curators to researchers and keen amateurs. You don’t need a degree, a membership, or a contact already in the field. Whatever you send lands in a shared queue, a volunteer picks it up and connects you with a specialist who can help.
People come to us with things like:
- “I want to know where I can report lanternfly in North America, and should I do it?”
- “We have a new invasive thrips and need a Thysanoptera expert. Do you have a contact?”
- “We’re dealing with an emerging pest. Can you put us in touch with someone who works on it?”
- “Do you know a taxonomist who works on jumping plant lice?”
- “I need a springtail expert for a research project. Do you have anyone in your network?”
- “I’ve got an insect question I’d just like someone to answer.”
- “I’m really interested in spiders. Do you have a contact who can point me to volunteering in a collection?”
- “I’d like to help out in a museum or collection. How do I get started?”
- “I want to find a local society, or get out on a field day near me.”
- “Something else entirely. I just want to get in touch with someone who knows.”
You don’t have to fit a box. If what you need isn’t on the list, ask anyway, and we will do our best to find someone who fits. We make the introduction; what grows from it afterwards is yours.
Volunteers open the doors.
Whether you’ve spent a career with these organisms or just love them, we’re looking for curators, recorders, society members, researchers and keen amateurs. You’re just helping people find where they need to go, then checking back to make sure it followed through. You claim requests when you have the time. If you don’t, you can just step away, and that’s it. See exactly how it works, try the queue, and read the agreement.