How an identification is produced
Your photo goes to an AI vision model, run by our provider Groq. With it goes a short set of instructions for the tool you chose — bug, spider, bite or plant — and the location and surroundings if you gave them.
The model is asked to name the most likely match, give its scientific name, rate how safe it is, and describe the features that led to the answer. It is told to say when a photo contains nothing it can identify, rather than naming something anyway. The result you see is what the model returned; we do not edit individual answers.
What the confidence score means
The confidence score is the model's own estimate of how sure it is about that particular photo. It is not a measured accuracy rate, and we do not publish one. We would need a large, independently checked set of photos to say how often the tool is right, and we would rather show nothing than a number we cannot support.
Where it goes wrong
The tool is weakest in the same places a human expert is:
| Situation | Why it is harder |
|---|---|
| Blurry or distant photos | The features that separate species are small |
| Larvae, nymphs and eggs | Immature stages carry fewer distinguishing features than adults |
| Look-alike species | Some can only be separated under magnification, or by where they live |
| Bites | Many bites look alike; pattern, location on the body and timing matter more than the mark |
| Species outside North America | Our guides are written for North America first |
Safety ratings are general guidance about a species, not an assessment of your situation.
How the guides are written
Our guides are researched and written with the help of AI tools, then edited by us. Figures such as sizes, colony sizes and seasons are checked against public references, principally university extension publications — the standard public sources on insects and structural pests.
The guides are not reviewed by a licensed entomologist, physician or pest-control professional. Where a situation calls for one, the guide says so and tells you what to look for.
Corrections
If you find something wrong, write to hello@bugidentifier.net with the page and, if you can, a source. When a correction is made, the page is updated and its date moves. The date at the foot of each page is changed only when the content actually changes.
Independence
The site carries no advertising, sells no pest control, and is not paid to recommend any product or company.
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