What is the Great Insect Quest?
The Great Insect Quest is a worldwide insect biodiversity project for adventurers of all ages. From your backyard to mountain peaks, remote jungles to city parks, every outdoor space becomes part of your mission.
By participating, you’re not just taking photos, you're fueling discovery. New species are often being described from iNaturalist observations, and your snapshot could reveal something unknown to science. Whether you’re a seasoned naturalist or on your very first bug hunt, you’re invited to join the quest!
Every insect is interesting, and every sighting is a story.
Help us understand the extraordinary life that surrounds us and make insect discovery a part of your story!
How it works.
1.) Register
When you register, you will receive a personal invitation link to join our iNaturalist project and an exclusive GIQ t-shirt reserved only for registered participants.
Your registration fees ensure we can not only keep this program running, but also get help from entomologists to aid in getting your photos to be research-grade identifications, create new research projects from your observations, and use your experience in the field to possibly help discover new species!
2.) Explore
Once you've joined the iNaturalist group, it's time to get out there and find some insects! Start snapping pictures and uploading to iNaturalist, making sure to add the add "GIQ" as a tag on your observation so we can keep track of our impact and species diversity. This will also be used for future contests, prize drawings, and more.
Group quests, or "Missions" will start popping up in your area as well, so you'll want to keep an eye on our social media pages, or the Great Insect Quest Facebook group to learn of Missions near you. Official GEC Missions will come with prizes, but anyone is able to organize unofficial Missions as well.
3.) Share
After uploading to iNaturalist, make sure you share your observations, Missions, and group photos with the hashtag #GECInsectQuest for more chances to win prizes, contests, and have your photos highlighted on our social pages.
CALL FOR QUEST LEADERS
Quest Leaders help bring the Great Insect Quest to their local communities by organizing simple, informal insect walks in parks, trails, neighborhoods, gardens, or urban areas. Leaders gather participants, encourage them to look closely at the insects around them, and help document their discoveries through iNaturalist. You don’t need to be an entomologist or insect expert just someone who enjoys exploring, and wants to help others discover the incredible biodiversity in their own backyard. Every observation helps build a larger picture of insect life in our communities and contributes to the growing Great Insect Quest dataset, with hopes of finding new and rare species, and expand our understanding of insect range movements and population changes.
If you would like to volunteer to be a Quest Leader, please complete the interest form by clicking the button below.
