You don't need fancy equipment to take decent photos of arthropods. By following a few tips, you can get goood photos using just your camera phone!

Check out this guide for taking photos with a phone camera that can help get you started.

Fun fact: You can now borrow Mobile Phone Macro Lens from NC State University library!

Identifying arthropods can difficult because of the great variation in forms, even among close relatives.

We have put together a key that will help you recognize some of the major groups found in homes (and a few of the many around homes).

The guide's content is influenced by a study conducted in 2012 around Raleigh by North Carolina State University and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences that investigated the arthropods found in peoples homes. Over the course of the project, more than 10,000 specimens representing hundreds of species were found in the 50 homes we sampled.