Field Guides for butterfly Identification
The Field Guides of eBMS want to be useful to identify butterflies in the field in an easy and simple way. The butterfly species are organised by families and genus and there are symbols identifying useful characteristics to identify butterflies species easily.
You can download to your devices and print all these free field guides
We selected the most common species per region reducing the number of species in each Field Guide with the help of butterfly experts and BMS coordinators. This useful material will help volunteers and involve people in butterfly monitoring. See below the different Field Guides created per country or region and download the pdfs in several languages. There are Field Guides for:
- Austria - Vienna & Burgenland
- Cyprus
- Greece - Corfu
- Italy
- Lithuania
- Malta
- Poland
- Portugal - Madeira
- Slovenia
- Spain - Andalucía and Castilla-La Mancha
Austria
A field guide to identifying the most common butterfly species in the area. This Guide aims to be useful for identifying butterflies in the field in an easy and simple way. Butterflies are divided into families, presenting symbols to mark specific characteristics with which to identify them and with information about ease to see them. Also, this Guide includes an explanation of the methodologies to monitor butterflies (transects and 15-min Counts).
- Field Guide Vienna: You can download the pdf guide (in German) directly to your device or print it directly (select the booklet option in the printer). You could find the 100 most common butterfly species in Vienna.
- Field Guide Lake Neusiedl Region: You can download the pdf guide in German and in English directly to your device or print it directly (select the booklet option in the printer). You could find in this field guide more than 100 butterfly species most common in the area around Lake Neusiedl in Burgenland.
Cyprus
A field guide to identify 48 of the most common butterfly species in Cyprus. This Guide aims to be useful for identifying butterflies in the field in an easy and simple way. Butterflies are divided by families, present symbols to mark specific characteristics with which to identify them and with information about ease to see them. Also, this Guide includes an explanation of the methodologies to monitor butterflies (transects and 15-min Counts).
You can download the pdf guide Field Guide Cyprus directly to your device or print it directly (select the booklet option in the printer).
Greece - Corfu
A field guide to identify +75 butterfly species occurring in Corfu, Greece. This Guide aims to be useful for identifying butterflies in the field in an easy and simple way. This Field Guide has been done in a collaboration between Corfu Butterfly Conservation and Butterfly Conservation Europe and funded by the Rothschild Foundation for printing. You can download the pdf guide Field Guide Corfu directly to your device or print it directly (select the booklet option in the printer), and it comes in an English and a Greek version (translated by Anne Sordinas):
Italy - per regions
Many countries in Europe are very rich in butterfly species and identifying butterflies is a real challenge. In Italy, there are around 290 species and the lack of identification guides was a problem. Together with the Italian Butterfly Group we divided Italy into climatic regions and selected the 72 most common species in each climatic area. We eventually produced 4 different Field Guides from specific regions: Padana plain, Mediterranean area, Apennines and Mediterranean Islands.
You can download the guides from here and print them directly.
- Field Guide Padana Plain region (IT)
- Field Guide Apennines region (IT)
- Field Guide Mediterranean region (IT)
- Field Guide Mediterranean Islands (IT)
*these field guides are in the Italian language
Lithuania
A field guide to identify 101 most common butterfly species in Lithuania. This Guide aims to be useful for identifying butterflies in the field in an easy and simple way. Butterflies are divided by families, present symbols to mark specific characteristics with which to identify them and with information about ease to see them. Also, this Guide includes an explanation of the methodologies to monitor butterflies (transects and 15-min Counts).
You can download the pdf directly to your device or print it directly (select the booklet option in the printer):
Malta
A field guide to identify 30 butterfly species in Malta, with illustrations of the more recognizable species. This Guide aims to be useful for identifying butterflies in the field in an easy and simple way. Butterflies are divided by families, presenting symbols to mark specific characteristics with which to identify them and with information about ease to see them. Also, this Guide includes an explanation of the methodologies to monitor butterflies (transects and 15-min Counts).
You can download the pdf guide Field Guide Malta directly to your device or print it directly (select the booklet option in the printer) in two languages:
Poland
This guide aims to facilitate the identification of 102 selected species of butterflies, with the highest probabilities to find them in Poland. This selection covers both common and rare species, including those with a regional range. This guide is also a help for those wishing to get involved in butterfly monitoring in Europe.
You can download the pdf guide Field Guide Poland (in Polish) directly to your device or print it directly (select the booklet option in the printer).
Portugal - Madeira
Madeira is a group of volcanic islands located west of Northwest Africa. These evergreen forests and thickets are in fact the dominant habitat on the island, known as “laurissilva”, the Laurel forests. These botanical communities are the main habitat for most endemic butterfly species.
A field guide to identify 18 butterfly species occurring in Madeira, including 4 endemic species. This Guide aims to be useful for identifying butterflies in the field in an easy and simple way for citizens. Also, this Guide includes an explanation of the methodologies to monitor butterflies (transects and 15-min Counts).
You can download the pdf directly to your device or print it directly (select the booklet option in the printer):
Slovenia
Slovenian Butterflies 1 is a national Field Guide showing pictures to identify 100 butterfly species that occur more frequently in diverse ecosystems of Slovenia.
This easy and direct Field Guide will help volunteers in butterfly identification and it provides the link to the Second Field Guide, Slovenian Butterflies 2 (in process), with species link between more difficult and similar species.
You can download the Field Guide Slovenia 1 in pdf directly to your device or print it directly (select the booklet option in the printer):
Spain - Andalucia
Andalusia is one of the regions in Europe with a particularly rich and singular butterfly community. It is a Mediterranean area with an African influence and with peculiar endemisms.
This Field Guide includes 93 of the most common butterfly species in Andalusia in just 12 pages. This Guide aims to be useful by reducing the number of butterflies in an area as rich and diverse as Andalusia.
You can download the guide in pdf in various formats:
- Andalusia Guide (Spanish): to print directly, three sheets to be printed on both sides, the pages are ordered for printing.
- Andalusia guide by pages (Spanish): pdf with individualized pages to download to your device or print
- Andalusia Guide (English): to print directly, four sheets to be printed on both sides, the pages are ordered for printing.
Spain - Castilla-La Mancha
Castilla-La Mancha is a region of the peninsular center of Spain with a great diversity of ecosystems: mountain ranges, wetlands, river valleys good for the diversity of butterflies. It has a big number of butterflies species, with a total of 157 species in the whole region, being the 67,4% of the peninsular total.
You can see the Complete list of butterflies species from Castilla-La Mancha (CLM) in this pdf.
You can download the CLM Field Guide guide in pdf format with the 72 most common butterfly species in CLM in 8 pages.
- CLM Guide (Spanish): two sheets to be printed on both sides, the pages are ordered for printing.
- CLM Guide by pages (Spanish): pdf of individualized pages to download to your device or print
- CLM Guide by pages (English): pdf English version of individualized pages to download to your device or print
How to print the Field Guides:
If you select the pdf with 4 pages which you can print in two sheets for both sides. The order of the pages are organised to print them directly. When you have the two sheets printed, just fold the sheets for the middle and organise them following the number of the pages.
If you select the pdf by individual pages, you can print directly the Field Guide selecting the booklet option in the printer.
Acknowledgments to Paolo Mazzei, Marco Bonifacino, Raniero Panfili y Daniel Morel (www.leps.it); Javier Olivares, Jose Miguel Barea, Félix Loarte García, Juan Pablo Cancela, Mariano Vindel, José Rodrigo Dapena, Rafael Pérez Fernández, Christodoulos Makris, Christos Zoumides, Hasan Bağlar, Kelebek Gözlemi, Akturk Pilanci, Elli Tzirkalli, Luka Šturm, dr. Rudi Verovnik, Barbara Zakšek, Primož Glogovčan, Nika Kogovšek; Izabella Dziekanska, Marcin Sielezniew, Giedrius Švitra, Carlos Viveiros, Sergio B. Marques Teixeira, Martin Wiemers, Klaus Frischkorn, António Aguiar, Matt Rowlings, Peter Verhelst, Wim Declarecq, Andreas Pospisil, Albert Vliegenthart, Guido Bonett, Aldo Catania, and Chris van Swaay for providing pictures for the creation of the Field Guides. Also, to the designer that created the different butterfly shapes from pictures, Eveline van der Jagt and edition by Cristina G. Sevilleja.
Field Guides for butterfly Identification
The Field Guides of eBMS want to be useful to identify butterflies in the field in an easy and simple way. The butterfly species are organised by families and genus and there are symbols identifying useful characteristics to identify butterflies species easily.
You can download to your devices and print all these free field guides
We selected the most common species per region reducing the number of species in each Field Guide with the help of butterfly experts and BMS coordinators. This useful material will help volunteers and involve people in butterfly monitoring. See below the different Field Guides created per country or region and download the pdfs in several languages. There are Field Guides for:
- Austria - Vienna & Burgenland
- Cyprus
- Greece - Corfu
- Italy
- Lithuania
- Malta
- Poland
- Portugal - Madeira
- Slovenia
- Spain - Andalucía and Castilla-La Mancha
Austria
A field guide to identifying the most common butterfly species in the area. This Guide aims to be useful for identifying butterflies in the field in an easy and simple way. Butterflies are divided into families, presenting symbols to mark specific characteristics with which to identify them and with information about ease to see them. Also, this Guide includes an explanation of the methodologies to monitor butterflies (transects and 15-min Counts).
- Field Guide Vienna: You can download the pdf guide (in German) directly to your device or print it directly (select the booklet option in the printer). You could find the 100 most common butterfly species in Vienna.
- Field Guide Lake Neusiedl Region: You can download the pdf guide in German and in English directly to your device or print it directly (select the booklet option in the printer). You could find in this field guide more than 100 butterfly species most common in the area around Lake Neusiedl in Burgenland.
Cyprus
A field guide to identify 48 of the most common butterfly species in Cyprus. This Guide aims to be useful for identifying butterflies in the field in an easy and simple way. Butterflies are divided by families, present symbols to mark specific characteristics with which to identify them and with information about ease to see them. Also, this Guide includes an explanation of the methodologies to monitor butterflies (transects and 15-min Counts).
You can download the pdf guide Field Guide Cyprus directly to your device or print it directly (select the booklet option in the printer).
Greece - Corfu
A field guide to identify +75 butterfly species occurring in Corfu, Greece. This Guide aims to be useful for identifying butterflies in the field in an easy and simple way. This Field Guide has been done in a collaboration between Corfu Butterfly Conservation and Butterfly Conservation Europe and funded by the Rothschild Foundation for printing. You can download the pdf guide Field Guide Corfu directly to your device or print it directly (select the booklet option in the printer), and it comes in an English and a Greek version (translated by Anne Sordinas):
Italy - per regions
Many countries in Europe are very rich in butterfly species and identifying butterflies is a real challenge. In Italy, there are around 290 species and the lack of identification guides was a problem. Together with the Italian Butterfly Group we divided Italy into climatic regions and selected the 72 most common species in each climatic area. We eventually produced 4 different Field Guides from specific regions: Padana plain, Mediterranean area, Apennines and Mediterranean Islands.
You can download the guides from here and print them directly.
- Field Guide Padana Plain region (IT)
- Field Guide Apennines region (IT)
- Field Guide Mediterranean region (IT)
- Field Guide Mediterranean Islands (IT)
*these field guides are in the Italian language
Lithuania
A field guide to identify 101 most common butterfly species in Lithuania. This Guide aims to be useful for identifying butterflies in the field in an easy and simple way. Butterflies are divided by families, present symbols to mark specific characteristics with which to identify them and with information about ease to see them. Also, this Guide includes an explanation of the methodologies to monitor butterflies (transects and 15-min Counts).
You can download the pdf directly to your device or print it directly (select the booklet option in the printer):
Malta
A field guide to identify 30 butterfly species in Malta, with illustrations of the more recognizable species. This Guide aims to be useful for identifying butterflies in the field in an easy and simple way. Butterflies are divided by families, presenting symbols to mark specific characteristics with which to identify them and with information about ease to see them. Also, this Guide includes an explanation of the methodologies to monitor butterflies (transects and 15-min Counts).
You can download the pdf guide Field Guide Malta directly to your device or print it directly (select the booklet option in the printer) in two languages:
Poland
This guide aims to facilitate the identification of 102 selected species of butterflies, with the highest probabilities to find them in Poland. This selection covers both common and rare species, including those with a regional range. This guide is also a help for those wishing to get involved in butterfly monitoring in Europe.
You can download the pdf guide Field Guide Poland (in Polish) directly to your device or print it directly (select the booklet option in the printer).
Portugal - Madeira
Madeira is a group of volcanic islands located west of Northwest Africa. These evergreen forests and thickets are in fact the dominant habitat on the island, known as “laurissilva”, the Laurel forests. These botanical communities are the main habitat for most endemic butterfly species.
A field guide to identify 18 butterfly species occurring in Madeira, including 4 endemic species. This Guide aims to be useful for identifying butterflies in the field in an easy and simple way for citizens. Also, this Guide includes an explanation of the methodologies to monitor butterflies (transects and 15-min Counts).
You can download the pdf directly to your device or print it directly (select the booklet option in the printer):
Slovenia
Slovenian Butterflies 1 is a national Field Guide showing pictures to identify 100 butterfly species that occur more frequently in diverse ecosystems of Slovenia.
This easy and direct Field Guide will help volunteers in butterfly identification and it provides the link to the Second Field Guide, Slovenian Butterflies 2 (in process), with species link between more difficult and similar species.
You can download the Field Guide Slovenia 1 in pdf directly to your device or print it directly (select the booklet option in the printer):
Spain - Andalucia
Andalusia is one of the regions in Europe with a particularly rich and singular butterfly community. It is a Mediterranean area with an African influence and with peculiar endemisms.
This Field Guide includes 93 of the most common butterfly species in Andalusia in just 12 pages. This Guide aims to be useful by reducing the number of butterflies in an area as rich and diverse as Andalusia.
You can download the guide in pdf in various formats:
- Andalusia Guide (Spanish): to print directly, three sheets to be printed on both sides, the pages are ordered for printing.
- Andalusia guide by pages (Spanish): pdf with individualized pages to download to your device or print
- Andalusia Guide (English): to print directly, four sheets to be printed on both sides, the pages are ordered for printing.
Spain - Castilla-La Mancha
Castilla-La Mancha is a region of the peninsular center of Spain with a great diversity of ecosystems: mountain ranges, wetlands, river valleys good for the diversity of butterflies. It has a big number of butterflies species, with a total of 157 species in the whole region, being the 67,4% of the peninsular total.
You can see the Complete list of butterflies species from Castilla-La Mancha (CLM) in this pdf.
You can download the CLM Field Guide guide in pdf format with the 72 most common butterfly species in CLM in 8 pages.
- CLM Guide (Spanish): two sheets to be printed on both sides, the pages are ordered for printing.
- CLM Guide by pages (Spanish): pdf of individualized pages to download to your device or print
- CLM Guide by pages (English): pdf English version of individualized pages to download to your device or print
How to print the Field Guides:
If you select the pdf with 4 pages which you can print in two sheets for both sides. The order of the pages are organised to print them directly. When you have the two sheets printed, just fold the sheets for the middle and organise them following the number of the pages.
If you select the pdf by individual pages, you can print directly the Field Guide selecting the booklet option in the printer.
Acknowledgments to Paolo Mazzei, Marco Bonifacino, Raniero Panfili y Daniel Morel (www.leps.it); Javier Olivares, Jose Miguel Barea, Félix Loarte García, Juan Pablo Cancela, Mariano Vindel, José Rodrigo Dapena, Rafael Pérez Fernández, Christodoulos Makris, Christos Zoumides, Hasan Bağlar, Kelebek Gözlemi, Akturk Pilanci, Elli Tzirkalli, Luka Šturm, dr. Rudi Verovnik, Barbara Zakšek, Primož Glogovčan, Nika Kogovšek; Izabella Dziekanska, Marcin Sielezniew, Giedrius Švitra, Carlos Viveiros, Sergio B. Marques Teixeira, Martin Wiemers, Klaus Frischkorn, António Aguiar, Matt Rowlings, Peter Verhelst, Wim Declarecq, Andreas Pospisil, Albert Vliegenthart, Guido Bonett, Aldo Catania, and Chris van Swaay for providing pictures for the creation of the Field Guides. Also, to the designer that created the different butterfly shapes from pictures, Eveline van der Jagt and edition by Cristina G. Sevilleja.