The 8 Best spider Identification Guides (2023 reviews)

The national audubon society spider identification guide should be able to handle its purpose and duties with ease. The Audubon has one of the easiest to use methods of finding an insect from any of the insect guides. It includes spiders, caterpillars, butterflies, moths, and lots of interesting critters. This book will get you in the ballpark when you try to identifying these animals, but you'll have to use other reference materials if you are serious about taxonomy. It is an all purpose field guide.

The plates are ordered by color and shape and not by insect order to make it easy to identify an insect without knowing anything about its taxa. There are plenty of awesome pictures of different bugs and also plenty of facts to learn about them. It is extremely useful with pictures at the front for viewing each insect.

Why We Like This:

Full color pictures and clear descriptions are included
Wonderful for anyone who wants to identify that insect that
Ideal for field use or just around the house, garden, or yard
Perfect if you are just starting to learn about insects

Best For All those: Richard A Bradley spider Identification Guide

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We know from years of feedback from readers, customers and amazon sellers, what most people want in a convenient and appropriate guide. The richard a bradley spider identification guide is exactly that - it's a simple guide that hits all the right notes. If you have an older child who loves nature and the creatures in it, this book might help start a career in natural science. It has many colorful pictures plus this book is essentially a wonderful text book. It is great way to learn about different kinds of spiders. It is easy to use and family accounts are detailed.

The color plates are beautiful and the information makes it easy to identify spiders. There is only a short paragraph for each spider, even those for which there is plenty of information published in the literature. It will be used a lot and such a great resource for spider enthusiasts.

Why We Like This:

Highly recommended for your backyard and area
All of the illustrations are accurate, detailed, and beautiful
Beautiful illustrations and identification niche fill

Best For budding bug enthusiast: ARTHUR V Evans Good Book

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The arthur v evans good book is capable of outshining several other guide featured in this list in overall features for the price point. This is an excellent guide to insects and spiders. This book is thick & packed full of information, fabulous color pictures(1600 of them), diagrams and so many different insect species, including spiders. It's extremely comprehensive, informative, well organised and has really nice, detailed photos.

This guide provides a pretty good summation of many common species, and is a great book for not wanting to spend a lot of money, or simply for one just starting their foray into the amazing world of insects and spider. It's just a nice-looking book.

The size of the book disallows the amount of species and pictures required for hobbyists or professional, but works well for those curious about the strange bug they found outside, or the creepy crawly crashing a slumber party. This book is packed full of excellent photos and illustrations, and of course, information. It gives you a good start in bug identification.

Why We Like This:

Refreshing and colorful new look for a field guide
Beautiful colored pictures to stimulate a person's interest in collecting insects
Very complete and useable for an all-in-one
Nice little book to carry in the fields when exploring and learning with kids

Best For beginner: HERBERT W Levi spider Identification Guide

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The herbert w levi spider identification guide is suitable and reliable and fits well with your daily usage. This little book on spiders and their relatives won't let you down. It introduces the science of spiders in such a way that both enthusiastic kids and interested adults are able to comprehend and appreciate the topic. It is great for the naturalist or parents of inquisitive children.

The book's core is an illustrated review by family of spiders, spider relatives, myriapods, and land crustaceans. In the front it gives a great visual on how the Arthropod group is broken out and how different spider types break out within that. The illustrations, mostly paintings and drawing, are very good. The book's illustrations are accurate, if occasionally not as crisp and detailed as one would like for identification purposes. All of the Golden Guides are well written, beautifully illustrated, and they make excellent family nature guides.

Why We Like This:

Great reference books without the bulk and weight of paperbacks
Wonderful little books for gaining basic knowledge on specific fields of interest
Great illustrations are included and brief information about each creature
Gives lots of photos and is small enough to carry with you

Best For Science fair project: Sarah Rose spider Identification Guide

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The sarah rose spider identification guide's material feels more premium than its price would suggest. This excellent field guide is amazingly thorough and will benefit anyone, from the simply spider-curious through the experienced araneologist. Rose's volume has beautiful color photos of the specimens (males and females, many from numerous angles, so more details are apparent), whereas Bradley offers excellent color artist illustrations with most of the pertinent details clearly rendered. The photos are excellent, and even include many pictures of juveniles, and the spiders' descriptions are remarkably detailed and helpful.

This is not just another spider book, but a great supplement to be used with Bradley and Ubick et. It is used for spider identification. It is a heavy book but very well organized and such beautiful pictures. They will add tremendously to your home nature library.

Why We Like This:

Fantastic photography and easy to use
Covers all the major spiders that the average person might encounter
Beautiful pictures and details to help discriminate between the various species
Covers more species than bradley, which omits some species that are relatively common

Best regional Field Guide: Richard J Adams spider Identification Guide

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The richard j adams spider identification guide's high-end materials makes sure that it ages well with use. If you have any interest in spiders this is a must book. This is a small yet hefty book with 300 text pages and 70 pages of plates containing 400+ color illustrations of California spiders. It has exceptionally long posterior lateral spinnerets and three tarsal claws, lack claw tufts, and range in color from silvery gray to brown with purplish iridescence on their palps and fore legs. The opposing page to the plates has enough information to help eliminate or narrow down the choices.

The text on "general" spider biology is a great introduction, and the family accounts are nicely written and fairly detailed. It includes horizontal side chambers filled with the accumulated remains of prey and other debris. The book includes a glossary, so in most cases you can discover the meaning of the word. This book is excellent with great hand illustrations which can be and are angled to show representative structures which is often a better thing than actual photographs.

Why We Like This:

Great guide with thorough explanatory text
Very good at describing how the spiders live and all the
Delivers what they promise

Best For kids: Jaret C Daniels spider Identification Guide

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The jaret c daniels spider identification guide is suitable and reliable and fits well with your daily purpose. It is a highly distinctive and diverse group of moths with more than 100 species found in north america. It has a broad host range, feeding on a wide assortment of different plants and may readily move from one species to another. It actually has the bugs that you can find in your back yard. It is great for kids & adults. It is easy to read with interesting facts for any one who loves nature. It is a great book, similar to a field guide. It gives you great pictures of all the creatures that thrive in your garden or outdoors etc.

Why We Like This:

Lots of pictures with lots of bugs, great for age 3-
New and hot release

Best For folks: ARTHUR V Evans spider Identification Guide

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The arthur v evans spider identification guide has killer features for the price point. If you have a young bug-enthusiast in your family, this book could easily become a great bedtime story book, with its short one-page descriptions. It really has the most basic varieties of insects in it, and not much more. It is more of a beginner's guide or a pocket guide than an in depth encyclopedia of insects.

This is a very helpful book showing 150 of the most common household and backyard bugs. It's a small book, just 5.4 x 0.6 x 8 inches, but that makes it handy and easy to carry around. The front inner cover gives a quick pictorial index into the various families of insects and spiders covered while the back inner cover gives a quick overview of insect and spider bodies.

There are not a ton of insects covered in this book, only some of the most common. The photography is excellent, with a photo of each bug or spider and makes them easy to identify by both their common and scientific names. This is an attractive and useful book.

Why We Like This:

Useful for both adults and kids
New and hot release