Diario de eekb

Hong Kong-- and EdU-- need you!

Let's document the amazing diversity on our campus and in Hong Kong! After our incredible showing last year, Hong Kong has been entered in the City Nature Challenge again and I hope that you will be able to take part in it.

From Friday, April 26, to Monday, April 29, take a photo (an "observation) of any natural life and upload it to iNat to participate in the City Nature Challenge, a free, volunteer Citizen Science project with over 170 participating cities around the world.

Hong Kong's CNC-HK iNaturalist 'project' page can be found on this link: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2019-hong-kong

And this Facebook page for the CNC-HK has great resources and info for beginners: https://www.facebook.com/events/2120153251628093/

Every person who takes a photo helps naturalists find out what kinds of animals, plants, and NATURE are on our planet now-- and how it might change later.

EdU's campus is already known as a haven of diversity. Nature is right under your nose-- just take a look for it and see! See our location for what's been seen recently here: https://www.inaturalist.org/places/education-university-of-hong-kong-eduhk-hk

Hong Kong will be competing with over 170 cities worldwide and all participants have to do is take photographs of nature (trees, plants, insects, birds, fungi, reptiles etc) and upload them onto iNaturalist. That's it!!!

NO REGISTRATION IS NECESSARY AND IT’S FREE!

Please join in and help increase our understanding, awareness, and enjoyment of biodiversity!

Webpage describing Tussock moths
http://hkmoths.ihostfull.com/ere/lym/lymantriinae.html

Tips:
Tribe Nygmiini includes the Artaxa, Euproctis, Nygmia, & Orvasca species. Great confusion in this tribe.
Artaxa (faintly marked small yellow moths): Mostly keep at genus level

Orgyia postica (Cocoa tussock moth) vs. Dasychira chekiangensis (Zhejiang Tussock moth): The lines around the "eye" pattern in the center of the wings pulls in and becomes narrow in O. postica as it reaches from the costa to the body; in D. chekiangensis it is more even / straight (if the lines are visible at all). (Thanks to @cosmophasis) (also see https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/12281403 )

Sexual dimorphism in D. chekiangensis .

Others:

Arctornis: At least 12 species in HK but you can't tell them apart by looking; keep at genus level. (see comments at https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/17744371)

Carriola ecnomoda: Sexual dimorphism. Also, all HK ones need to be changed to Carriola seminsula! (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/23100844)

Abraxas: "there are 2 species of Abraxas currently known from HK but they cannot be identified by field observation - they need to be chopped :-( Sadly the markings are not an accurate way of identifying to species level." https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/12352632

Euteliinae: this subfamily "is called "turn-tails" - due to the peculiar manner in which the abdomen is held when the moth is at rest." https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/183867

re: the Inter-University Nature Challenge:
(1) EdUHK's CNC Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/291676505089405/
(2) EdUHK's CNC iNat page (this page): https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/cnc-the-education-university-of-hong-kong
(3) RANKING: Hong Kong's Inter-University Challenge CNC ranking page: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/cnc-inter-university-city-nature-challenge
(4) EdUHK's iNaturalist PLACE page, for seeing biodiversity pre- and post-CNC: https://www.inaturalist.org/places/education-university-of-hong-kong-eduhk-hk

re: the Worldwide (Inter-)City Nature Challenge:
(1) Hong Kong's CNC Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/2120153251628093/
(2) Hong Kong's CNC iNat page: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2019-hong-kong
(3) RANKING: City Nature Challenge iNat ranking page: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2019

Resource people:
EdUHK students/staff available to answer your questions! Find us on Facebook, or message us on iNaturalist:
Emma: iNaturalist ID is "eekb"
Mickey: iNaturalist ID is "waiki1"
Ruby: iNaturalist ID is "vingkwanchu"
May: iNaturalist ID is "mayyamon"

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?locale=en-US&place_id=7613&preferred_place_id=9853&rank=species,subspecies,variety&subview=grid&taxon_id=48111&view=species

According to comments by @Manassas , the HK IDing of Hierodula is mixed up.
"There aren't any Hierodula membranacea distributed in China. All the Hierodula membranacea in China now called H. formosana and H. chinensis. Also the lacy wings can't be the identify pointer for every mantis will get lacy wings when it get old just like age spots on human face." and "In fact many H. formosana in HK are mistaken as H. patellifera"

Large green ones:
Hierodula: Should be only H. patellifera, H. formosana, H. chinensis (maybe)
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/16587515
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/23161355

Tenodera genus: Very large, often brown but not always, with green "stripe" of an underbody under the wings. Manassas wrote "skinny and has a green strip on the frontier of its forewings. Also its pronotum extension is straight and its face is striped." https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/27253757
(Includes at least 4 possible species of giant mantises. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?verifiable=true&taxon_id=71035&place_id=any&preferred_place_id=9853&locale=en-US&view=species&rank=species,subspecies,variety)
for Tenodera aridifolia (Japanese Giant Mantis), see https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/11216934
for one IDed at genus level only, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/12407969

Statilia maculata: Asian Jumping Mantis; Smaller, brown, with distinctive spots/markings on front legs. e.g. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?verifiable=true&taxon_id=358085&place_id=any&preferred_place_id=9853&locale=en-US&view=species&rank=species,subspecies,variety

Acromantis? (Genus level for Japanese Boxer Mantis; but I'm not sure I'm correct about this set): Smaller, with green under the brown wings; and relatively broad/distinctive. e.g. see https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/23860238, but see one I thought was Acromantis that was moved to H. Formosana https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/27561755 [wings are lacy/like a screen-- this can just be a sign of age? https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/16587515 ]

Sunday & Monday nights, last chances to contribute moths to the CNC! Meet us at 9:30pm in front of Robert Black Hall.

We put in an amazing showing for Hong Kong, contributing more than 1,200 observations just from our little (but nature-filled) campus-- great for the CNC, and a great baseline for understanding what kinds of species we have on campus in April 2019! We had 12 volunteer observers this year, despite the holiday-- let's see if we can beat that next year! :) So far we well out-performed the other campuses, but let's see if they upload anything new from last night. :)

At the moment we have a possible 329 species from our campus! Experts will now be busy IDing your observations, with their final deadline being May 6th 9am Hong Kong time, so keep an eye on your observations to see if you need to withdraw an original incorrect ID (don't worry about it, always something new to learn in the natural world!!) and to see what kinds of species you discovered!

Note that the notification system is not working at the moment, because of the massive CNC activity, but hopefully that will be up online soon.

For moths, if you put them in the project "Hong Kong Moths" they will be found & IDed more quickly by the relevant experts.

If you or your friends have any leftover photos from the weekend, please be sure to upload them by May 5th at the latest (but earlier is better to give the experts more time).

Looking forward to our final tally!