Our Observation of the Week is this Carpathian Blue Slug, seen in the Ukraine by cloudya!

Originally from Berlin but in America after studying Forest Ecology at Humboldt State University amongst California’s giant Coast Redwoods, Claudia Voigt dug up photos from a survey in Ukraine to show her friends that there’s an “even more magical slug” than North America’s famed Banana slugs.

Three years ago, when she was studying at the University of Sustainable Development in Eberswalde, Germany, “travelled to the Carpathian Biosphere Reserve in Ukraine. The reserve holds one of the only remaining virgin old-growth forests in Europe. We did a rapid biodiversity assessment and studied the impacts to the reserve by the emerging tourism industry but also by changes in traditional land uses. The Carpathian blue slug was one of the amazing endemic creatures of the old-growth beech forest.”

As its common name suggests, the Carpathian blue slug is endemic to the Carpathian Mountain range of Eastern Europe, and is blue in color. The blue ranges from a turquoise to dark blue and even black, and the slug can be found under logs or in the leaf litter in damp conditions. It’s also a large species, with adults growing up to 14 cm in length!

Claudia, who now does forestry work for California State Parks (and is at Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park in the above photo), says “I always thought of myself more as a naturalist than a forest ecologist or botanist.” Of iNaturalist, she says “[I] am glad that iNaturalist shares observations with other databases. I want researchers to better understand the distributions and ranges of the organisms they study and find the quality control by curators is very important to make iNaturalist a truly valuable tool.”

- by Tony Iwane

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- Here’s a Carpathian blue slug in (slow) action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhgDkkVDwaY

Our Observation of the Week is this Pachyrrynchus congestus beetle, seen in The Philippines by tonyg! 

The son of two Biology teachers, Tony Gerard has always been into nature and the outdoors, and he’s even followed in his parents’ footsteps, as a teacher of Biology (and Physical Geography) at Shawnee Community College. “I grew up, and currently live, in an area of great biodiversity- the Cache River wetlands in southern Illinois. It's a great place to visit and an even better place to live!” Tony’s main interest is herpetology (“It's so odd to me that now it's even trendy,” he says, “as a kid I was somewhat ostracized for being the weird kid into snakes and salamanders.”), but he’s also quite interested in other critters such as leeches, flatworms, and gastropods.

And weevils, of course, are also an interest of Tony’s, but mostly in his wife’s homeland, the highlands of Luzon island in the Philippines. “The weevils in the states have always been a nondescript bunch of small brown beetles in my experience,” Tony explains. “Here in the Philippines many are much larger and come in great fun colors and patterns. When they feel threatened they usually just let go and fall into the undergrowth. I've missed a lot of good shots that way. This guy I stuck my hand under as I was focusing - sure enough he dropped - but into my hand. Problem was he didn't want to set still. He kept walking and I had to keep turning my arm to keep up with him.”

There’s not too much information about Pachyrrynchus congestus online, but intrepid iNat user @sambiology was able to dig up this paper, which looks at the structure behind the orange markings of the beetle. From the abstract:

The orange scales that cover the colored rings on the animal’s body were opened, to display the structure responsible for the coloration. This structure is a three-dimensional photonic polycrystal, each grain of which showing a face-centered cubic symmetry. The measured lattice parameter and the observed filling fraction of this structure explain the dominant reflected wavelength in the reddish orange. The long-range disorder introduced by the grain boundaries explains the paradoxical observation that the reflectance, although generated by a photonic crystal, is insensitive to changes in the viewing angle.

“iNaturalist has definitely made me a better naturalist and field biologist,” says Tony (above, with a huge snail in hand). “I'm much more aware and informed about certain groups - especially arthropods and gastropods - from responses I've received on iNaturalist….There is one class I teach, "Field Biology" in which I require students to post observations to iNaturalist. With the current decreases in funding for sciences, iNaturalist is one way in which regular folks can help fill in the gap.”

- by Tony Iwane

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 - Like the orange colors on this beetle, many blue colors in nature are structural rather than pigmentary. 

- There are a ton of awesome organism in the Philippines, check out the faved ones on iNat! 

Our Observation of the Week is this group of Cookeina fungi, seen in Costa Rica by robberfly!

“One of the earliest memories I have is being in the backyard of my childhood home (I'm not sure I was even walking yet) and finding a tiny Western Toad in the grass,” recalls Liam O’Brien (@robberfly). “My brother Colin and I had quite the Tom Sawyer boyhood with a creek nearby. We were constantly bringing frogs and things-in-the-creek home. We converted our baby's sister's pink, plastic wading pool into a pond, with rocks, strands of algae and polliwogs. We got busted from our Mom. The biggest punishment we could get was not "Go to your room!’ or ‘You're Grounded!’, it was...‘No Creek for a Week.’”

“After a great stage career in Repertory Theatre and Broadway, I've gone full circle back to...Nature. The fates handed me a new chapter as an Environmental Conservationist in the niche corner of Invertebrate Restoration. I surveyed all the butterflies of San Francisco in 2009, had an idea of how we could help a little green hairstreak continue on in the county (the Green Hairstreak Corridor) and became involved with many butterfly conservation efforts here.” Liam also monitors endangered Mission Blue butterflies for the National Park Service, and is part of the nascent Operation Checkerspot, which is restoring Variable Checkerspots back to the Presidio National Park. He is also an artists, and illustrates nature for trail signs in San Francisco and publications throughout the county.

While he specializes in butterflies, Liam has a broad interest in the natural world, and he was recently in Costa Rica, taking a Dragonfly Class with Dennis Paulson. The group was allowed into the La Selva Biological Reserve. “We were there to see (and did see) the bizarre Helicopter Damselflies (Coenagrionidae). With four wings beating independently, the tip spots seem seem to whirl around these large, very slender species. They pluck spiders from their webs while in flight. Amazing day, but the humidity was literally dangerous and as I made my way back out of the jungle (to find...oxygen), the light hit the fungi in such a way that made me stop. Like I say on my profile on Instagram (robber_fly) : I love Nature, Color & Form - the Cookeina fulfilled all three.”

Aptly called “cup fungi,” Cookeina make up a genus of fungus that are found mainly in the tropics. Their beautiful cup shape is directly related to their main purpose, which is of course spore distribution. As the cup, or apothecium, fills with rain water, asci, or spore-containing cells, become engorged. When the water evaporates, the tips of the asci pop, releasing spores into the air.

“My use of iNaturalist is slightly selfish - I exploit it daily...trying to...learn. Trying to become a better teacher.  Trying to...see what other's see and being utterly jealous and happy for them :),” says Liam. “I don't do Facebook or Twitter, so, iNat is kinda my main social platform. I've come to make friends with many folks here and that, by far, is my favorite part. Meeting up with other Nature Nerds and letting them show Me what They find...enthralling.”

And for folks who send him robberfly (Asilidae) observations to ID, Liam has a confession:

I picked them as a handle because...I wanted to butch up the butterfly thing. They eat butterflies and- are long, sinewy, creepy and wolf-like, like me. But...I don't know my Asilids (does anyone?) and there are days I regret it, but not when I was in the Puerto Vallarta Botanical Gardens a few years back. "Gracias, Señor Robberfly" That, I liked.

- by Tony Iwane

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- Check out this short video of Cookeina speciosa releasing spores.

- Listen to an interview with Liam on KQED’s Forum.

- There are over 150 observations of Cookeina on iNaturalist, and they are quite beautiful.

- Here’s some charmingly old school footage of helicopter damselfies.

This Alloniscus mirabilis isopod, seen in California by alex_bairstow, is our Observation of the Week!

While many high school students are working summer jobs, volunteering, and just having fun, Alex Bairstow is finding and documenting new species for iNaturalist!

A resident of Southern California, Alex describes himself as a “nature enthusiast,” and is interested in birds, fish, mollusks, and more. Right now he’s gearing up for his senior year of high school in the fall and he says that after he graduates, “ideally, I'd like to go into a career in marine biology.”

Alex is already on the right path, as he posted iNaturalist’s first two observations of Alloniscus mirabilis, an isopod native to California (here’s the second observation). According to iNat Co-director and isopod enthusiast Scott Loarie (@loarie), these are the first documented photos of this species he’s been able to find on the web. “This is a pretty awesome contribution to iNat,” he says.

Alex discovered these isopods while on a trip to Cabrillo National Monument, where he took some of his relatives who were visiting from Sweden. “[Cabrillo National Monument] has some pretty great tide pools, but it was high tide when we arrived, so I decided to check the cliff faces bordering the upper intertidal zone instead. That's when I came across a few interesting woodlice, which thanks to Scott Loarie and Jonathan Wright, I learned were Alloniscus mirablis,” he tells me.

According to Jonathan Wright, it was interesting that Alex found the creatures in crevices on a cliffside (see above); these isopods are usually found on the sand, under driftwood and other cover. According to UC-Santa Barbara Marine Science Institute researchers David Hubbard and Jennifer Dugan, sand-dwelling isopods in Southern California, including members of Alloniscus, are declining in population and range (see article here). Loarie muses that perhaps the isopods are moving into the cliff faces due to lack of suitable beach habitat; obviously more studies would have to be done, but it’s an intriguing possibility. That a teenage nature enthusiast would find these creatures in an unlikely habitat, then post the first photos of the species online, illustrates the potential of citizen science.

“Since joining iNaturalist about a year ago, the way I view nature has changed drastically,” says Alex. “Instead of focusing on just one group of organisms (i.e. birds), iNaturalist has encouraged me to see the bigger picture and enjoy all that nature has to offer.”

- by Tony Iwane

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- Check out some of the other faved Isopod observations on iNat!

- We’re used to seeing tiny isopods, but of course there are enormous ones at the bottom of the ocean.

Our Observation of the Week is this Dotted Galliwasp, seen in Colombia by juanda037! 

The island of Malpelo, located about 500 km off the coast of Colombia, is a tiny (~1.2 square kilometers), rocky, and barren place. “Despite of these characteristics,” says Juan Daniel Vásquez-Restrepo, “the island maintains the largest population known of Nazca boobies (Sula granti), an endemic species of crab (Johngarthia malpilensis) and some other small secretive invertebrates, and three endemic species of reptiles: an Anolis (Anolis agassizi), a gecko (Phyllodactylus transversalis) and the galliwasp (Diploglossus millepunctatus). But, I'm only talking about land species, because if you dive you will see colorful fishes, hammerhead sharks, corals, sea turtles, dolphins and a lot of awesome marine creatures.” It is a nationally protected Fauna and Flora area.

As herpetology student at the University of Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia, Juan “was invited to participate in the XXXII scientific expedition to study the lizard populations on the island, as a result of an agreement between Fundación Malpelo and the Herpetological Group of Antioquia,” and sailed forty hours to reach Malpelo. “I was responsible for conducting the census of reptile populations on the island, and let me say that there are thousands and thousands of them.” 

Galliwasp lizards range throughout much of Central and South America, and are thought to be highly adaptable. The Dotted Galliwasp, especially, has had to adapt to its salty, lonely home, It feeds on amphipods and crabs, but also exploits the many birds of the island. The lizards are known to eat bird carcasses, eggs, guano; they even mob birds and force them to regurgitate their food for the lizards, instead of the young birds!

Juan (pictured above, with a Western basilisk (Basiliscus galeritus) in hand), says his “main research interest focuses on snakes and [their] taxonomy, biology, evolution and diversity in the Neotropical region. I’m also strongly interested on the scientific divulgation about the important role that these organisms play in nature and why we should protect them.” He only recently joined iNat, and says “I believe this is a powerful tool, because anybody can interact and learn directly from scientists, specialist and amateurs from all parts of the world.”

- by Tony Iwane

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- Couldn’t find any footage of Dotted Galliwasps, but there’s a ton of great diving footage from the Malpelo on YouTube! 

This Typocerus gloriosus beetle, seen in Arizona by birding4fun, is our Observation of the Week!

 Like many iNaturalist users we’ve profiled for Observation of the Week, Arthur Gonzales (@birding4fun) started out with an interest in one taxon (birds, in his case) but made a great find of a completely different taxon that earned Observation of the Week. “[After first learning about birdwatching] I found myself chasing birds all over Arizona and planning trips across the country based on bird sightings that I needed for my life list,” recalls Arthur. “This new enthusiasm was heavily fueled by the fact that my two boys enjoyed chasing bird sightings with me and as a family, it was yet another reason for us to be outdoors.

“All those feelings of excitement I got from the chase, identifying new birds, and visiting new locations are happening again as I caught the iNaturalist bug,” he explains. “Now I find myself trying to identify just about every living organism I walk past, which makes for some seriously long short walks. Despite my years of being outdoors, I am blown away by how many more life forms I have learned to identify in just the last few months.” 

One of those, of course, is the Typocerus gloriosus beetle shown above. Arthur and his family took a trip to some nearby woods and “our typical exploring process began. All the doors on the truck opened, we spilled out and began walking the mud flat edges of the tank. We usually call out our sighting and I snap a photo or two.” They found the beetle, which didn’t look familiar to any of them, so Arthur took some photos and they moved on. “That evening, I spent a couple hours trying to identify the beetle but got to the point that I just posted the picture on iNaturalist hoping others would help with the identification,” says Arthur. “A few days later, the comments rolled in and my family and I were blown away with our find.” 

Those comments were by Boris Büche (@borisb), an invaluable beetle expert on iNaturalist who currently has 48,662 identifications (!) and dug up The Cerambycidae of North America guide to identify it. “Image sources were unavailable, until now & here,” says Boris. “In 1976, no more than five specimens were known to science. Typocerus gloriosus is an endemic of the Colorado plateau (CO, UT, NM, AZ), it is found in June and July, that´s about all we know.” Boris explains that while identifying an insect to species from just photographs is often difficult, Typocerus gloriosus “makes an exception. It is readily identified by its colour pattern, being one of the most beautiful, and most scarce Longhorn beetles on US territory.”

 
Arthur (above, with his family) lives and works in Kaibab National Forest, and is currently the leading observer in the their 2017 Citizen Science Project on iNaturalist. He has also worked with nearby Williams Middle School and their iNat project to help connect the students there with the outdoors.

I used to walk around looking at wildlife, mostly mammals and birds, thinking I knew my surroundings better than the average forest user. Once I slowed down to photograph and identify plants and insects as well, I quickly realized how much more there is to the environment I live in and how little I really know. I see so much biodiversity in my walks it would be very tough to describe to others but I hope my photos can help bring my observations to others...Having the ability to interact and observe the natural world on a daily basis is not a fact that I take for granted. It’s tough for me to describe the excitement I have in observing, photographing, sharing, and discussing all that nature provides in this short narrative but through iNaturalist, I can certainly try to share my excitement with others. What a way to connect and share my observations on the Kaibab NF with people across the globe.

- by Tony Iwane

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- Check out an Earth Unplugged video about why beetles are awesome. 

- Several types of longhorn beetles are pests, as their larvae bore in wood. Here’s a Smithsonian article about invasive Asian longhorned beetles in North America.

- Here’s all the faved longhorn beetle observations on iNaturalist! 

@scubabruin wrote:

California Wild Women in the International Biodiversity Bioblitz 2020

Given the current crisis and close proximity to home for so long, this challenge was a welcome diversion. It also coincided with one of our regular trips to Mammoth. Even though I needed to balance family vacation time along with being part of a competitive bioblitz team, I felt good about my ability to contribute to our species count since I’d be in a different part of the state during part of the event.

It’s terrific having such a dedicated and enthusiastic team, because without them I might have let Sunday evening slide on into Monday morning and start then. Having said that, we did walk around for about 30 minutes on Sunday evening searching for moths in the lights and hoping our resident black bear would make an appearance. Sadly, no luck.

Monday morning dawned and after some coffee and light nourishment, we headed out to Benton Crossing near the Owens River and Crowley Lake, to what is a popular fishing area. We also stumbled upon a hot-springs nearby. This outing proved worthwhile in finding a number of species new to me, including two birds, the Sage Thrasher and Yellow-headed Blackbird.

Most of the plants were new to me as well. I didn’t include the cows all around as they belong to a local rancher, but I do wish I could have caught a photo of the weasel dashing across the road and had taken better photos of the flame skimmer/pond hawk which I didn’t include due to poor quality.

Later in the morning, while family did some work, I took a short trip to the Sherwin Lakes trailhead. Alas, most of the wildflowers there had long since dried up, but I was able to make observations of several firs and pines as well as local scrub.

Our Monday afternoon outing involved a drive into Devil’s Postpile National Monument. After a late lunch at the café, we took a lovely walk around Sotcher Lake where I found a few more new species and quite a lot of flowers, birds, and insects, such as: a crackling forest grasshopper, woodland pinedrops, and a Western Forktail. The trail around the back side of the lake was quite overgrown and we weren’t sure where it went a few times, but we were rewarded with great views and I managed a good variety of observations.

Our next stop included a short hike to Devil’s Postpile itself and the loop trail over the top, where I’ve never been before. Lots of chipmunks and ground squirrels, including a close up with one cutie who posed and communed with us for a few minutes.

Our last stop of the afternoon was the wildflower walk near Agnew Meadows, where we found plenty of wildflowers. None were new species to me, but many were new for this event. I only wish I had stopped to record the massive mound of bear scat we noticed…sigh.

That was it for the day, exhausted after 6.2 miles of walking and it was time to go back home to make dinner. Uploading at the slow Mammoth internet speeds took hours, and that was just the observations made on my cell phone. Camera photos have yet to be downloaded, sorted and added.

Tuesday, August 4th, I was on my own for the morning, so I headed out to Mammoth Creek and the Hayden Cabin area then up old Mammoth Road where I walked out toward Mammoth Rock as well as a quick stop near the old mining site. After exhausting those areas, where I found quite a lot to record, I took a short drive out the scenic loop looking for more wildflowers and pollinators. Many of the spring flowers have died off, but the Sulphur buckwheat is a stalwart plant giving its all to last longer than most. Some of my favorite photos from the morning were those that I shot of pollinators on Ranger’s Buttons.

In the early afternoon, we began the long 2-hour drive to the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest. Somewhere I’ve never been and have long wanted to see. Despite being a little apprehensive about the drive being steep and narrow, after all, the road rises 6,000 feet in elevation in just 24 miles, I was super excited to see these majestic pines in person and add new species for myself as well as the team. To my pleasant surprise, the area was not as barren as I expected. We encountered not only the gnarly, beautiful pines themselves, but plenty of other hardy plants, including wildflowers and pollinators, chipmunks, squirrels, and a Yellow-bellied Marmot. Although four hours of driving time cut into other opportunities for more observations, I believe showcasing the wealth of diversity in California was more important and along the lines of our team’s focus. Not to mention, my family and I are on vacation and truly enjoyed exploring the White Mountains/Bristlecone Pine Forest trails and interpretive signs which were very well-done. I recommend the side trip to all. Fun fact: there are actually two species of pine surviving the harsh conditions over 10,000 feet in the White Mountains – the Great Basin Bristlecone Pine and the Limber Pine. That was it in terms of observations for the day as we arrived back home at sunset and went straight into making dinner. Of course, observations from my phone were added right away, but camera photos will have to wait.

Third day of the challenge, and another day to be spent driving, meant I was up early and out at Minaret Vista to see what I can find. Thankfully, we were rewarded with stunning views as well as few new species. At this point, I realized it was also a good idea to start snapping a lot of photos even if they are duplicative of species I had already documented.

Later in the morning, I returned to Mammoth Creek as I had some extra time before heading back to Los Angeles. Despite all of my trips to Mammoth, I had never realized there were public trails through a federal reserve along the creek and what a joy it was to discover that area. Hardly anyone was nearby and I was able to comingle with many varieties of wild flowers, plants, and insects. Of course, the elusive sulphurs are always frustrating to photograph, so I came up empty-handed on that one. However, I was pleased to collect plenty of observations and a few more species.

Afternoon arrived and time to drive south, meaning 5 hours in the car with no real opportunities to document along the way. Partly because the more stops, the longer the drive, and my family wasn’t keen on that. Additionally, as my teammates have noted, a lot of the plants are past their prime this late in the summer. Besides, it was just darn hot on the drive south…about 100 degrees the entire way. At one stop, I managed to snap some photos which included a weedy-type species which was new to me: Annual Bur-Sage.

Once home, it was time to turn to family/household business of unloading and reconnecting with my other sons and dogs, who stayed home. Hence, I did not record much by way of observations later on Wednesday. I spent the entire evening downloading and sorting through the camera to add those observation to iNat and the competition. By 11pm, it was time to go to sleep and continue uploading in the morning.

Thursday, August 6th, the last day of the competition dawned cloudy, cool, and dreary. This meant the insects would not be especially active, nor would the birds, so I worked on finishing uploading of camera observations until the weather improved. Once it warmed up, I headed over to the neighborhood community garden where I can always find lots of lizards, birds, and insects. I did not photograph any plants, however, as they are all cultivated. Since I wasn’t likely to add any new species to the list, I just felt as though I could help ramp up the number of observations for the team before the competition ended at 1pm. Amazingly, I did find a new species, both for me and the team: a Mexican Cactus Fly.

I was sure to get home with enough time to transfer photos from camera to iNat. With just a few minutes left, I scoured my yard yet again. To my surprise, I found an alligator skin shed, a species not yet added to our team.

My takeaways after the competition are much the same of those already discussed. It was tiring, but I definitely did not put in as much time as others. If we do it again, I won’t commit to so much driving time where I lost valuable observation opportunities. On a personal note, I have recorded over 50 species new to me during this challenge and learned more about the Eastern Sierra flora. I cherish our new team relationship and hope we can continue doing community science and iNat-related activities in the future. Thanks so much for going on this journey with me.

By Laura Schare, @scubabruin

Crabs of the World continues to grow and evolve, thanks to all of our 530 members who are scientists, divers, photographers, and tide pool explorers all over the world. Since my last post in August, I’ve invited three talented biologists to join @ondrej-radosta and @sea-kangaroo as managers of this project. Welcome to @mazancourt, @wernerdegier, and @mikegigliotti! Since August we have added 40 new species to Crabs of the World for a total of 1,423, so our new goal is 1,500 species by the 5th anniversary of this project in May 2021.

First, I think you’ll enjoy looking at these species that are new to the project:

•The first Richerius marqueti by @mazancourt in 2016 in New Caledonia:
www.inaturalist.org/observations/52570564

•A 10 cm freshwater Sylviocarcinus devillei by @flaviomendes in 2015 in Brazil:
www.inaturalist.org/observations/52616794

•Some Crabs of the World curators noticed an interesting crab observation in Virginia, USA, and now @wernerdegier believes it’s a new species:
www.inaturalist.org/observations/9194754

•@kevin-chang posted the first (of a few) Thranita holthuisi (a Swimming Crab) on a small island of Taiwan:
www.inaturalist.org/observations/46060322
and the first (of a few) Xiphonectes iranjae (also a Swimming Crab) and also in Taiwan:
www.inaturalist.org/observations/42222063

•Two wonderful little crabs @jeanro has never seen before in New Caledonia:
www.inaturalist.org/observations/55258095
www.inaturalist.org/observations/55461105

The following observations are special, though not new species:

Amazing photos of masses of Leptomithrax gaimardii (Great Spider Crab) by @sharejosie in Australia:
www.inaturalist.org/observations/48222850

and a close-up of the same crab by @paul_isotope in the same part of Australia:
www.inaturalist.org/observations/49951560

A gorgeous and very purple Coenobita purpureus (Blueberry Hermit Crab) by @tonycoenobita in Japan:
www.inaturalist.org/observations/48745595

A splendid photo of Labidochirus splendescens (Splendid Hermit) with hydroids covering its shell by @thiebaud in Washington State, USA:
www.inaturalist.org/observations/55536041
A sponge crab with a remarkable home, a Pseudodromia rotunda (Furred Sponge Crab) by @seastung in South Africa:
www.inaturalist.org/observations/56099510

A beautiful turquoise porcelain crab, Allopetrolisthes punctatus, by @erasmomac in Chile:
www.inaturalist.org/observations/55334073

A very colorful Calappa callus (Rough Box Crab) by @zahnerphoto in Indonesia:
www.inaturalist.org/observations/41381182

A striking closeup of the face of a Lithodes santolla (Southern King Crab) by @argentinasubmarina in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina:
www.inaturalist.org/observations/52082882

A Peltarion spinulosum (interesting common name- Tractor Crab) by @gonzalopatagonia, also in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina:
www.inaturalist.org/observations/52514197

Two beautiful Ashtoret lunaris (Speckled Moon Crabs) by @budak in Singapore:
www.inaturalist.org/observations/55358204

A bright green Pitho aculeata (needs confirmation) by @d99 in Mexico:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/49435686

and excellent photos of the colorful Galathea squamifera (Black Squat Lobster) by @butorgogol in France:
www.inaturalist.org/observations/53927630

Crabs are amazing!

Наша еженедельная рубрика с итогами 1️⃣0️⃣ недели проекта "Гербарий 2.0"

🔸32 900 наблюдений
За прошедшую неделю участники сделали более 3 400 новых наблюдений. Что несколько больше, чем в предыдущие недели! Так держать!

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55 новых видов добавилось на этой неделе в проект! 👍
Очень здорово, что даже спустя два месяца проекта, участники находят новые для проекта виды!

🔸151 наблюдателей
На прошедшей неделе 8 новых участников присоединились к активному наблюдения. Добро пожаловать! 😉

🔸Лидеры недели по числу наблюдений и найденных видов
За неделю картина в нашем топ-6 почти не изменилась и наши лидеры не сдают совких позиций! По числу наблюдений снова лидирует @alina_kondratieva. А первое место по числу видов за @lilia_rakitianskaia. Следующие 5 место по числу наблюдений распределяются между нашими самыми активными участниками: @yaroslavmagazov, @fedor_kondrachuk, @lilia_rakitianskaia, @evelina_ishmukhametova и @tatyanapopova. Следующие 5 место по числу видов распределяются между: @alina_kondratieva, @evelina_ishmukhametova, @naturalist25051, @fedor_kondrachuk и @tatyanapopova..

🔸Напоминаем, что все лекции и мастер-классы образовательного марафона можно посмотреть в записи, если вы не успели подключиться к прямой трансляции.
🍃Мастер-класс “Основы работы с платформой iNaturalist” https://youtu.be/muV5cQ4TvEA
🌿Лекция “Основы систематики: 10 самых распространенных семейств растений” https://youtu.be/0ZT6nirOdb8
🌾Лекция “Как узнать ботанический мир?” https://youtu.be/Fx6Sd03T8VI
🌱Лекция “Ядовитые растения России" https://youtu.be/yn7godhEjfY
🍃Лекция "Флора России на iNaturalist" https://youtu.be/EgLJxGI9-Nk
🌸Лекция “Редкие и охраняемые растения” https://youtu.be/pQuJpBMmRXs
🌿Лекция “Лекарственные растения” https://youtu.be/JhHA6MSrs08 https://youtu.be/pUk6TuAVFqM
☘️Мастер-класс “Работа с проектами на платформе iNaturalist” https://youtu.be/pUk6TuAVFqM

Впереди еще 3 недели проекта, и мы надеемся, что участники с максимальной пользой проведут остаток лета, узнавая новые растения!

В проекте "Дикая природа Татарстан" круглое число 30000.
30000-е наблюдение было загружено 11 августа 2020 года.
За два летних месяца был колоссальный прирост наблюдений -11029. Всё благодаря летним студенческим практикам. За что отдельное спасибо Вадиму Прохорову и его студентам.

На прошедшей неделе снова было снова три важных рубежа по числу наблюдений 👍
Про 30 000 наблюдение мы уже писали! 🔥

3️⃣1️⃣ 0️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ым стало наблюдение Вороньего глаза обыкновенного, ядовитого растения из семейства Лилейные, от @tatianapopov https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/55606645

3️⃣2️⃣ 0️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ое наблюдение сделал @fedor_kondrachuk , это наблюдение, хорошо всем известного, Одуванчика лекарственного, но из Карелии https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/55848566

Conocenos

http://www.reservacuxtal.com/index.php

Herzlich Willkommen beim Projekt Flora und Rote Liste von Hessen!

Rote Listen sind ein wichtiges Instrument im Naturschutz. Sie sind ein Fachgutachten und dienen der Einschätzung der Gefährdung von Arten in einem Bezugsraum. Idealerweise sollten sie im Abstand von ca. 10 Jahren aktualisiert werden.
In Hessen klappt das bislang ziemlich vorbildlich. Die 5. Auflage ist 2019 erschienen und kann hier kostenlos eingesehen und runtergeladen werden: https://www.hlnug.de/fileadmin/dokumente/naturschutz/artenschutz/steckbriefe/Farn_und_Bluetenpflanzen/Gutachten/HLNUG_RL_Farn_Samen_Pflanzen.pdf

Bearbeitet werden die Roten Listen von der Botanischen Vereinigung für Naturschutz in Hessen e.V. (BVNH, www.bvnh.de) im Auftrag des Landes Hessen. Die Datengrundlage setzte sich bislang aus der Auswertung von Herbar-Material, Gutachten und Experten-Kenntnissen zusammen. Für die 6. Auflage, die etwa 2030 erscheinen soll, wollen wir erstmals einen ganz neuen Weg gehen und dafür haben wir diese Projekt eingerichtet.

Zur Gefährdungseinstufung in der Roten Liste werden mehrere Faktoren berücksichtigt. Wichtig sind die aktuelle Bestandsgröße, der kurzfristige und der langfristige Bestandstrend. Wir hoffen, dass dieses Projekt wichtige Daten liefern wird und zwar insbesondere für die Arten, die zwar noch relativ verbreitet sind - und deswegen bislang weder im Fokus des Naturschutzes noch der Forschung standen - bei denen aber Bestandsrückgänge stattfinden oder vermutet werden. Dabei handelt es sich z.B. um viele Arten des Grünlands, aber auch eine Reihe von Ruderalarten fallen in diese Kategorie. Wir wollen daher von Zeit zu Zeit Arten besonders in den Vordergrund stellen und zur Meldung von Funden dieser Arten aufrufen, um mehr über ihre aktuelle Verbreitung in Hessen zu erfahren. Das geht natürlich nur mit der Hilfe vieler Beobachterinnen und Beobachter draußen im Feld!

Für die Einschätzung der Roten Liste wird Hessen in vier Regionen unterteilt. Damit wird den unterschiedlichen Bedingungen Rechnung getragen, die innerhalb Hessens herrschen. Beispielsweise herrscht im Rheingau ein ganz anderes Klima als im Vogelsberg. Diese Region sind hinterlegt und können als Filter ausgewählt werden, wenn man sich die Beobachtungen im Projekt ansieht. Dazu bei den Filtern im Feld Gebiet "BVNH" eintippen, dann erscheinen die vier Regionen zur Auswahl. Mehr zu den Regionen auch auf dieser Webseite: http://www.botanik-hessen.de/Pflanzenwelt/

Für heute bleibt nur noch zu sagen: Viel Freude bei der Erkundung der hessischen Pflanzenwelt!

This project began when I, like most teachers in the Washington D.C. region, suddenly shifted my classroom to distance learning in March. After a couple of weeks of teaching online, my head of school challenged our faculty to find creative ways to get our students off their screens for a portion of their school day. My middle school life science students were wrapping up a study of the diversity of life, so a nature journal project seemed like a good way to take advantage of something we don’t have in our classroom – the great outdoors. One of my goals was for the students to learn about taxonomy, the classification of living things, and to gain an appreciation of the biodiversity around them. With libraries closed and my classroom resources sequestered at school, I encouraged them to use the Seek app by iNaturalist to identify their finds. Seek is great for kids because it does not require them to create a login or provide personal information. I began adding my discoveries to the iNaturalist database.

It was early spring. The trees were beginning to leaf out, and the first ephemeral flowers of the season were blooming. Using my cell phone to take photos, I began documenting the unfolding of spring. Soon the bees showed up, followed by the insects of summer – leafhoppers, beetles, katydids, cicadas. So far, I’ve collected photos of nearly 150 species, mainly in the green spaces around Stonehurst’s perimeter. I’ve seen many more living things that were not easily captured with a cell phone – birds, butterflies, and even a black bear, oh my!

I like to use iNaturalist to record the biodiversity of my favorite outdoor spaces. So, I typically don’t record multiples of a species in an area unless it’s unusual (or one of my favorites!). When other people add their sightings to a project, a picture of biodiversity plus abundance emerges. The biodiversity in Stonehurst's little patch of the planet amazes me every time I go for a walk and see something new.

I just set this project up and now it is open for use! Feel free to join!

Дорогие друзья!

У нас повод ещё раз рассказать о публикации данных iNaturalist через Global Biodiversity Information Facility, а также (традиционно) о рейтинге России. Последний раз мы писали о GBIF-массиве iNaturalist 14 дней назад: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/flora-of-russia/journal/38846-obnovlen-massiv-dannyh-inaturalist-v-gbif-28-iyulya . Давайте посмотрим, как продвигаются наши дела, ведь 11 августа 2020 г. массив данных iNaturalist, которые поступают в GBIF, был обновлен (https://doi.org/10.15468/ab3s5x).

Итак, многие из читателей нашего журнала уже знают, что данные (которые каждый из вас загружает на iNaturalist), достигшие исследовательского уровня и имеющие одну из трёх свободных лицензий (CC0, CC-BY, CC-BY-NC), экспортируются в GBIF (https://www.gbif.org/). Это единая точка доступа к 54 тысячам баз данных о биоразнообразии. Сейчас в GBIF 1,6 млрд записей, в т.ч. 18 632 509 штук из iNaturalist. В общей сложности, 61,5 млн записей в GBIF имеют сопутствующие изображения, видеофайлы или аудио.

Hi all, this is a traditional overview of the activity of the Russian iNat-community in accumulation of GBIF-mediated data. iNaturalist data that reaches research grade and has one of three free licenses (CC0, CC-BY, CC-BY-NC) is exported to GBIF.

Если вы хотите что-то выгрузить из iNaturalist в табличном виде, то, прежде всего, появится вот такое сообщение: "Большие объёмы экспорта тормозят нашу инфраструктуру и усложняют для нас введение новых изменений. Следует рассмотреть другие источники. GBIF принимает большинство наших лицензированных наблюдений исследовательского уровня, и их инструменты экспорта превосходны. Экспорт GBIF также идет с doi, который вы можете указать, если публикуете исследования на основе данных, которые вы экспортируете, и эти ссылки чрезвычайно полезны для нас, поскольку они позволяют нам видеть, как используются данные iNat". Сейчас таких публикаций уже 749!

Any user can freely study all this data on the GBIF portal as well as download offline data of any size in the form of csv-downloads. The filters allow you to make sophisticated enquires and, in fact, browse better the electronic data on the biodiversity of a particular region.

Наблюдения из России, которые публикуются в iNaturalist, добавляются в GBIF тремя путями:
1) загрузка новых наблюдений (поле и архивы);
2) определение бэклога;
3) изменение пользователями настроек своих лицензий.

По противоположным причинам наблюдения могут быть автоматически отозваны из GBIF:
1) наблюдение удалено пользователем из iNaturalist;
2) наблюдение с исследовательским уровнем лишилось его (было переопределено);
3) пользователь поставил жёсткую лицензию для всех своих фотографий;
4) наблюдению присвоен статус "обыкновенное" (по разным причинам).

Обновление данных из iNaturalist позволило преодолеть две недели назад важный рубеж: теперь в свободном доступе в GBIF имеется свыше 5 млн записей о биоразнообразии России!

Итак, на данный момент, в GBIF индексируется уже 5,22 млн записей о биоразнообразии России - 5,12 млн с основной территории и 0,10 млн из Крыма. При этом, iNaturalist является самым большим по объему источником данных о природе России (занимает долю 15,5% по основной территории и 35,7% по Крыму). Эта доля постоянно растёт - примерно на 1% каждые две недели.

At the moment, GBIF has 5.22M records on biodiversity of Russia - 5.12M from the mainland and 0.10M from the Crimea. iNaturalist is the largest dataset on the nature of Russia (holds 15.5% for the mainland and 35.7% for the Crimea, and steadily increasing), so we monitor regularly the current stats of GBIF.

Вот, какие массивы данных по биоразнообразию России являются крупнейшими сегодня:

1. iNaturalist Research-grade Observations 793 049
2. Moscow University Herbarium (MW) 623 474
3. RU-BIRDS.RU, Birds observations database from Russia and neighboring regions 370 777
4. EOD - eBird Observation Dataset 282 227
5. Geographically tagged INSDC sequences 195 599
6. Locations of plants on dot distribution maps in the Flora of Siberia (Flora Sibiraea, 1987–1997) 169 854
7. A grid-based database on vascular plant distribution in Vladimir Oblast, Russia 123 054
8. Finnish Floristic Database (Finnish Museum of Natural History Collections) 106 057
9. Birds of Northern Eurasia 86 992
10. Chronicle of Nature - Phenology of Plants of Zhiguli Nature Reserve 86 524

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Как обычно: догонялки. Напомним, что именно через GBIF легко и просто посмотреть насколько активны пользователи iNaturalist разных стран мира. Все мы видим борьбу регионов в зачетах "Флоры России" и в Кубке. Все наши данные идут в копилку России в мировом рейтинге и очень здорово влияют, прежде всего, на репутацию нашей страны в профессиональном научном мире. Чтобы было интереснее, мы поставили себе на это лето три цели.

*** Цель 1: второе место в мире по наблюдениям сосудистых растений ***

1. United States of America 3 772 362
2. Canada 585 922
3. Russian Federation 523 304
4. New Zealand 257 135
5. South Africa 239 816
6. Mexico 230 183
7. United Kingdom 174 421
8. Germany 119 648
9. Australia 116 668
10. Taiwan 102 548

Пока мы занимаем третье место в мире, уступая Канаде 62,6 тыс. наблюдений (14 дней назад было 86,1 тыс.). Отставание снова заметно сократилось! Напомним, что если, например, все пользователи портала "Флора России" решили бы перейти на открытые лицензии, то этот отрыв уже бы давно был преодолен. Прогноз: в сентябре, не сбавляя оборотов, Канаду мы догоним и выйдем-таки на второе место. УЧАСТВУЮТ: наблюдения сосудистых растений с территории России исследовательского уровня с лицензиями CC0, CC-BY, CC-BY-NC.

*** Цель 2: третье место по наблюдениям всех организмов ***

С Мексикой у нас идёт борьба в общем зачёте (по всем наблюдениям всех групп живых организмов, которые попадают из iNaturalist в GBIF) за третье место.

1. United States of America 9 803 212
2. Canada 1 524 261
3. Mexico 866 804
4. Russian Federation 793 049
5. Australia 648 317
6. New Zealand 484 718
7. United Kingdom 431 714
8. South Africa 430 758
9. Germany 328 380
10. Italy 271 134

Итак, сейчас отрыв от Мексики 73,8 тыс. наблюдений (14 дней назад было 123,5 тыс.). Там сейчас летняя засуха, поэтому свежих наблюдений совсем немного. Прогноз: через четыре недели мы выйдем на третье место. Впрочем, темпы роста наблюдений из России в конце лета тоже замедляются. УЧАСТВУЮТ: наблюдения всех организмов с территории России исследовательского уровня с лицензиями CC0, CC-BY, CC-BY-NC.

*** Цель 3: первое место по наблюдениям сосудистых растений (в зачёте по месяцам) ***

Эта цель в данном сезоне так и останется нереальной, ведь мы замахнулись на то, чтобы обогнать США - родину iNaturalist. Пусть даже на месячной отметке и только по сосудистым растениям исследовательского уровня. И всё же давайте снова смотреть на цифры. Немного истории: немногие помнят, но каждый раз по итогам месяца в мае, июне, июле, августе и сентябре 2019 года Россия занимала третье место по сосудистым растениям, уступая США и Канаде. В этом году мы стабильно вторые.

Вот данные за июнь 2020 г.:

1. United States of America 160 379
2. Russian Federation 100 367
3. Canada 43 590
4. United Kingdom 15 520
5. Germany 12 085

А вот за июль 2020 г.:

1. United States of America 127 702
2. Russian Federation 74 269
3. Canada 43 477
4. United Kingdom 12 647
5. Germany 9 558

И самое начало августа 2020 г.:

1. United States of America 4 095
2. Russian Federation 2 094
3. Canada 888
4. United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 589
5. Australia 373

Постепенно мы уступаем США в 1,60 (июнь), 1,72 (июль) и 1,96 (август) раза. Что ж, выходит не этим летом! Но, в любом случае, отрадно то, что в этом сезоне мы с вами стали вторым по мощности национальным ботаническим сообществом iNaturalist. УЧАСТВУЮТ: свежие полевые наблюдения 2020 г. сосудистых растений с территории России исследовательского уровня с лицензиями CC0, CC-BY, CC-BY-NC.

Всем спасибо! Каждому спасибо!

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Давайте посмотрим, что изменилось за две недели в деле активного насаждения открытых лицензий. Если вы хотите поучаствовать в GBIF, то это просто! Каждый пользователь может зайти в личный кабинет (только на сайте, ведь в приложении этой функции нет) и поставить/поменять лицензию. У наблюдений, которые не идут в GBIF, стоит в паспорте наблюдений пометка "Все права защищены" (справа внизу), а у тех, что идут - "Некоторые права защищены". К сожалению, в приложениях по умолчанию стоит "All rights reserved", что запрещает использовать ваши данные даже в научных целях и передавать их в GBIF.

Вот пошаговая инструкция для придания вашим наблюдениям статуса "открытые данные":
1) зайдите через компьютер или интернет-браузер смартфона на сайт iNaturalist.org
2) залогиньтесь и зайдите в раздел "Настройки учётной записи" (по стрелке в правом верхнем углу рядом с вашим аватаром)
3) пролистайте до раздела "Лицензирование"
4) в разделах "Лицензия наблюдения по умолчанию", "Лицензия фото по умолчанию", "Лицензия аудио по умолчанию" проставьте одну из первых трёх лицензий: CC0, CC-BY, CC-BY-NC
5) обязательно поставьте три галочки "Обновить существующие наблюдения (фото, аудио) новыми вариантами лицензий", чтобы лицензия обновилась на всех загруженных прежде фотографиях
6) в конце страницы нажмите синюю кнопку "Сохранить"

Итак, в GBIF-зачет попадают не все наблюдения, а только те, что достигли "Исследовательского уровня" и имеют свободную лицензию - CC0, CC-BY или CC-BY-NC. Успех нашей страны в GBIF/iNaturalist во многом связан с активностью профессиональных ученых, которые подтверждают находки (а, зачастую, и публикуют на iNaturalist свои данные) и разумностью пользователей, которые в личных кабинетах на сайте поставили для своих наблюдений свободные лицензии, а, значит, такие наблюдения могут использоваться научным сообществом.

Приведенные ниже списки актуализированы на 3 августа. Если вы перешли на открытые лицензии после прошлого поста в период с 3 по 11 августа, то эти данные еще не обновились в GBIF.

Вот пользователи (из числа топ-500 наблюдателей по флоре России), которые перешли на свободные лицензии, но случайно не обновили их для всех наблюдений (было 12 человек, осталось всего 9):

@antennaria -970
@alakey -325
@naturalist16000 -154
@naturalist10224 -90
@natalia_polyakova -58
@stsenator -51
@alebedev -47
@yaroslavmagazov -20
@elenasmirnova -20

Вот пользователи (из числа топ-500 наблюдателей по флоре России), которые пока не перешли на свободные лицензии, а потому их данные не идут в GBIF (было 107 человек, осталось 90):

@cava -1818
@natalya1406 -1313
@sergeyus -1206
@naturalist25051 -1135
@tarasov -838
@denis138 -675
@naturalist12789 -651
@naturalist19164 -636
@naturalist29626paterikina -609
@naturalist26231 -549
@evgeniy_benikhanov -543
@nellysemenova -512
@annalaenko -510
@andreytikhonov -473
@khairulla -463
@vera_chistyakova -463
@nadya9 -454
@artem2013 -453
@naturalist35155 -432
@missnarjess -429
@nikita_grechesky -416
@svetlana_koveshnikova -398
@olgakrilova -387
@naturalist14385 -377
@naturalist35087 -373
@mariafazilova -357
@annagamzina -356
@daria1813 -354
@julujka -344
@naturalist28910 -319
@julia_fodina -317
@vera124 -309
@proshinmaxim -304
@deniszhbir -303
@lubovschnaider -302
@yanabykova09 -301
@kkatya -299
@vlbury -293
@tatyana20 -285
@angelinaguryanova -278
@simonkamnev -270
@keytmaksimova -269
@angelina237 -266
@rudentzova -265
@naturalistcvetlana -264
@aagladilin -258
@digitata -254
@marinakrygina -244
@naturalist13989 -244
@verba -243
@karpova -240
@marinakhanduyk -240
@borovicheveugene -234
@anastasialoseva -229
@ferdania -224
@alexandrtichonov -217
@acanthisflammea -216
@alena_golovchenko -215
@kristina_gayderova -209
@irinaki -206
@tbsilaeva -203
@nat_zouieva -201
@nekto -198
@nadik -198
@nataliashevchenko -197
@irinaber -195
@naturalist31744 -194
@spichacova -194
@alyona4 -192
@natalia_trifuz -186
@naturalist35099 -186
@esinm -183
@anton_nikolaev -181
@monsieurzhukov -180
@vicia -180
@vikakazakova -178
@naturalist6849 -177
@naturalist33665 -176
@naturalist20971 -175
@taegoo -172
@naturalist16365 -171
@naturalist4690 -168
@naturalist_nadezhda -167
@el-kizi-1204 -167
@dmitry_yarygin24 -165
@eugenelsaransk -165
@vaku-vaku -165

Получается, что многих из этих списков я знаю лично: Ксюша, Миша, Степан, Алеся, Ярослав, Денис, Володя, Саша, Антон, Татьяна Борисовна, надеюсь, вы нас поддержите!

Отдельно отмечу, что 98 из топ-100 наблюдателей проекта "Флора России" перешли на свободные лицензии, а доля наблюдений проекта, заблокированных жёсткими лицензиями, сократилась до 13,96% ()! Это наше большое общее достижение в деле открытого доступа к данным о биоразнообразии. Большое спасибо, что не оставили без внимания предыдущий пост. Возможно, в этот раз отклик будет еще шире.

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P.S. Вот пользователи, которые внесли максимальный вклад за последние 14 дней в проект "Флора России" и используют при этом открытые лицензии: ссылка.

В проект добавлены ООПТ памятники природы: Фоминский парк, Городской парк культуры и отдыха (Гороховецкий район), Красный родник (Гусь-Хрустальный район), Пенкинские болота, Урочище Камбары, Озеро Шумарки, Озеро Старица, Кижановские ключи, Борок у озера Урдух (Камешковский район) и проектируемый заказник "Суворощь" в Гороховецком районе.

We have setup an event page on FB: https://www.facebook.com/events/2214102408735378/
or find it under "Socially Distant Bioblitz (16 August 2020)"

We're hoping to attract many new iNaturalists during the upcoming Bioblitz, so please visit the event page, mark yourself as "Going!", and share with your contacts!

Compartimos con ustedes el link a la charla que será brindada hoy a las 13:00 hs de Argentina, sobre la historia evolutiva y biogeografía de mariposas neotropicales, por el Dr. Pável Matos Maraví del Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences. Coordinado como parte de los seminarios virtuales del Instituto de Biología de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.
Luego de la emisión el video quedará alojado en YouTube, en caso de que no puedan ver la transmisión en vivo.

Link: https://youtu.be/LtpGDXCUH5E

I got a vivid, raw reminder last night of the untamed life around us in New York City -- a sudden buzz and a thunk on the hood of a car, a cicada in the grasp of a killer wasp.

An Eastern Cicada-killer Wasp (Sphecius speciosus) takes a Swamp Cicada (Neotibicen tibicen) on West 22nd Street in Manhattan.

A Milestone

In early August, I slipped past 700 Research Grade taxa in the borough of Manhattan. That number contains so many surprises, achievements, and shared experiences with other generous naturalists. It's hard to know how to sum it all up or choose representative moments from so much diversity: hairstreaks and herons, lichens and leaf miners, tunicates and turtles.

I don't think it's immodest to say that naturalists in New York City are magicians who move with ease between parallel worlds. Choose your metaphor -- a TARDIS, a magic wardrobe, Platform 9¾ -- our own senses and intentions have at least as much power and our worlds as much wonder.

For thousands of non-human species, this city is a proving ground, a crossroads, a dying world, a new frontier, an exotic stopover, or just plain old home. That we can bear witness to their lives, even coming to know them in some small way, is boundlessly profound.

A Change

Much as I love New York and all its living things, I've decided to take a leave of absence for a few months. I'm going to spend the fall and winter in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, and I'm really, really excited. It's not a permanent change -- I'm coming back to New York City next spring -- but it'll be the longest stretch of time by far that I've spent outside NYC in almost a decade.

I'm enjoying my last few weeks in the city as best any of us can under the circumstances. While I'm away, I'll certainly keep up with observations here on iNaturalist, including projects like Butterflies of New York County and helping out with IDs where I can.

Some Favorites

Blackburnian Warbler (Setophaga fusca), which I cherish each May as they return from the Andes.

A Common Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina), whose species stubbornly thrives here.

New York state's first Cassius Blue (Leptotes cassius) at Hudson River Park in Chelsea.

Virginia Saxifrage (Micranthes virginiensis) Inwood Hill Park.

A thorn-mimicking Wide-footed Treehopper (Campylenchia latipes) at Hudson River Park.

Native Marsh Fleabane (Pluchea odorata) at the edge of an empty lot in Chelsea.

An Evening Grosbeak (Coccothraustes vespertinus) who overwintered at Riverside Park

Hidden Goldspeck Lichen (Candelariella aurella) growing in the mortar of a wall.

Feeding marks left by Norvellina chenopodii on Lamb's Quarters.

The brilliant Dogbane Leaf Beetle (Chrysochus auratus) on Hemp Dogbane.

Blue Toadflax (Nuttallanthus canadensis), now rediscovered in NYC

Synidotea laticauda (provisionally) discovered on Randalls Island with @susanhewitt.

Brant (Branta bernicla) #2237-01767, banded on Southampton Island (Shugliaq) in the Canadian Arctic

Common Buckeye (Junonia coena) showing dazzling universes of color.

Thank you

Nearly 500 people have contributed identifications to my New York County observations; scores more have made reports and created reference materials that have helped me know where to go and what to see there. And it's so rewarding to go out together, as many of us have. I have learned something from each of you -- thank you.

And to some of my top identifiers, especial thanks: @susanhewitt, @sadawolk, @wayne_fidler, @elevine, @nycbirder, @novapatch, @mertensia, @tarpinian, @danielatha, @dendroica, @kdstutzman

See you next spring!

We were on our 1st trail at Matheran.. it was raining heavily but still we ventured out to see at least something. After a while I spotted a Vine Snake and members were busy photographing the green beauty… Suddenly across the road I found another vine snake curled up… It was on eye level bush… I saw something extra…. Some extra tail… Then I focused properly (yes it was foggy and rainy atmosphere) and I noticed that there were 2 Vine snakes.. one big (2.5 feet) and one small (1.5 feet)…and to my surprise the bigger one was about to swallow the smaller one.. He grasped the head first and started chewing and swallowing slowly..it was tough job as smaller one was wriggling fast and try to escape.. but the bigger was too much hungry and do not want to happen this so he also trying his best to swallow the head, pulling it from branched and trying to solve the twists and knots….It was sheer sight to watch this drama happening in front of us… we stopped their at least for 35+ minutes till he gulped the entire snake.

Nikon D500, Tamron 90 mm VC Macro with Nikon R1C1
f29, 1/60, ISO 200, Aperture Priority, Hand held in heavy rainy climate

Друзья, на счетчике 14 001 наблюдение (+ 1000 за 10 дней), 1523 вида, 405 наблюдателей (+20).
Надо сказать, что наши эксперты провели большую работу по чистке данных по видам и теперь количество видов крымской флоры, которые есть в копилке наших наблюдений, максимально приблизилось к реальности :)). И это, хочу заметить, совесем не мало - почти 60% всей флоры сосудистых растений полуострова мы уже отыскали совместными усилиями! И еще пожелание - это важно! - не забывайте отмечать галочкой наблюдения растений, которые растут в культуре. Они хоть и не сильно, но все же искажают общую картину.

The Arkansas Herpetological Atlas 2019 is now available for download.

🐸 🐊 🐢 🦎 🐍

This public release represents the greatest undertaking in cataloging and mapping the herpetofauna of Arkansas since The Amphibians and Reptiles of Arkansas (Trauth et al. 2004).

Almost 8,000 records contributed to this project by the end of 2019 have been installed in the Arkansas Herpetological Atlas. Thank you!!!

Le praterie ricche in orchidee (habitat 6210*) sono presenti in Repubblica Ceca, dove presentano elevati livelli di biodiversità in siti gestiti da lungo tempo. Tuttavia, lo stato di conservazione di questo habitat su scala nazionale non è soddisfacente.
L’analisi del declino delle popolazioni di orchidee in 27 paesi in Europa ha inoltre indicato come il livello di rischio cui esse sono esposte sia particolarmente alto in Europa centrale. In particolare, cinque delle specie oggetto di ripopolamenti all’interno del Parco del Po vercellese-alessandrino e del Parco di Portofino presentano, in Repubblica ceca, un livello di rischio tra “in pericolo” e “localmente estinta”, secondo la classificazione della IUCN (l’Unione Internazionale per la Conservazione della Natura) (Anacamptis coriophora: regionally extinct, Anacamptis morio: endangered, Anacamptis pyramidalis: critically endangered, Himantoglossum adriaticum: critically endangered, Ophrys apifera: critically endangered, Ophrys fuciflora: critically endangered).
Mentre l’approccio della custodia del territorio (“land stewardship”) è ancora poco diffuso in Italia, nella Repubblica Ceca esiste una tradizione di lunga data nella conservazione della natura ad opera di privati, che si esprime ad esempio attraverso le associazioni fondiarie o “land trusts”.
Attraverso la partecipazione di ČSOP (Český svaz ochránců přírody, Unione Ceca per la Conservazione della Natura), che svolge la funzione di coordinatore nazionale dei “land trusts”, intendiamo realizzare sinergie finalizzate alla salvaguardia delle orchidee in entrambi i Paesi. LIFEorchids intende sviluppare protocolli per la reintroduzione e la gestione delle orchidee che possano essere facilmente adottati da altre aree protette. Uno dei nostri obiettivi è mettere a disposizione di altri gestori delle praterie che rappresentano un habitat per le orchidee gli approcci e le tecniche di riproduzione in vitro di queste specie sviluppati nell’ambito di LIFEorchids. Se siete interessati, mettetevi in contatto con noi.
Contatto: Jan Moravec, ČSOP (jan.moravec@csop.cz)

ČSOP má v projektu roli především informační. Jde například o propagaci mezi českými i zahraničními odborníky, kteří by mohli mít o projekt zájem a případně by se do něj chtěli více zapojit. Dále také šíření výsledků mezi laickou veřejností v ČR a zvyšování povědomí o českých i evropských orchidejích. Důležitý je ale také případný přenos výsledků projektu na lokality v ČR a v dalších zemích, jehož potenciál se bude zkoumat v rámci proveditelnostní studie, která bude jedním z konečných výstupů projektu.
Zajímavá bude studie možného využití metody reprodukce orchidejí „in vitro“ v českém prostředí. Protože se Česká republika řadí mezi země s dlouhou tradicí v činnosti tzv. pozemkových spolků, které fungují také v rámci ČSOP, je zde zájem o přenos českých zkušeností v péči o cenná území na projektové lokality.
Kontakt: Jan Moravec, ČSOP (jan.moravec@csop.cz)

diego y pedro manzaba hicieron un recorrido en mindo para ver cuantas orquideas estaban con flores en los guayabos. buscaban especificamente para especies de Epidendrum y nada. Es increible ver lo que florece--ya esta el verano en mindo.

In normal years by August some rain has fallen in the area and the summer ephemerals and summer-flowering grasses and shrubs have awakened to the monsoon. These are not normal times. This may portend a new normal; what that new normal will be only time can tell. I will not live to see it, for it will take some time for stability to return.

So beyond a single mid-July shower of 0.05" the local skies have been clear, and the dew point recently has been in the thirties and forties rather than the 55+ of a normal monsoon.

Nonetheless I paid a visit to Rackensack Canyon today knowing that the chance of seeing flowers was nearly nil. Beyond one flowering tamarisk surrounded by a cloud of pollinators, a handful of Maurandya antirrhiniflora flowers and some Euphorbia melanadenia cyathia the area was flower-free.

But the target of my hunt was the rich gall-producing fauna in Rackensack Canyon. A few new (to me) Quercus turbinella galls revealed themselves. Oddly, the Atrusca capronae galls that were abundant in their thousands last summer in the canyon were nearly absent. I saw only two today. But the novel ones made the trip worthwhile. I also hope that I've gotten some better photos of some interesting leaf galls of Celtis reticulata that @megachile found of interest. The sharp projection noted there appeared to repeat on the converse side of at least some of the leaves.

Photos to be posted soon.

各位參賽者，早安：

今年的「深溝釣魚大賽」雖然才進入第四天，在大家努力探索之下，物種數累積非常地迅速，其中也增加了兩個新物種。

一個是夢幻物種-土虱，在新範圍大湖溪被發現。另一個是貪食沼蝦，出現在原範圍深溝地區。大家繼續加油喔～

土虱(棕鬚鯰) https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/55865368
貪食沼蝦 https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/56028547

https://vafwis.dgif.virginia.gov/WAP2/ or for broader context
https://www.inaturalist.org/posts/37961-welcome-to-virginia-wildlife-mapping

• Baltimore Woods Nature Center
• Mildred E. Faust Wildflower Garden
• Dee Atkinson Arboretum
• Baltimore Woods Fen Biota
• Baltimore Woods Fen Complex
• Native Flora of Baltimore Woods
• Ambiguous Flora of Baltimore Woods

We just broke 27k. Can we get a thousand more observations by the end of the month.