While I was IDing Unknowns, I found 2 iNat firsts (placeholdered) , and 3 obs where i had to flag because it hasn’t been onto iNat yet, but a search contains some links to ResearchGate. What are your best Unknown finds?

on Unknowns, we stumbled onto a tree that had been id’d by the observer but a subsequent identifier had marked it as a gall. We engaged the observer and identifier to see what direction the observer wanted to go. Turned out the gall was the observer’s target, and it was rare or first of its kind on …

Not actually Unknowns, but these 2 observations west of Monterrey, Mexico, had spent 4 years on iNat identified as Flowering Plants and later as Genus Sisyrinchium before they turned up in a search I ran and I was happy to ID them as Dandya purpusii. There’s not a lot of recent research on this spec…

I don’t believe I have an experience of my own like this - but, I’d love to see the observations you came across!

Here’s some cool finds: endangered salmon endangered endemic snails! inat first 1 inat first 2

clearing the unknowns is easy, maybe you’'ll want to try it some day!

I have done it, and it is pretty easy and fun :) also thank you for the links, those are fascinating!

note: when you do it, perpare for the avalanche of ids coming from the unknowns.

During the last ID blitz, there were a few really interesting finds. Not all were previously unknown, but several were and some still are! The observations added to the project were only those we found very notable or intriguing, so I think a lot of them were pretty cool: https://www.inaturalist.or…

When identifying Hawaiian unknowns it’s always a treat to find a Lobeliod which the AI has haplessly misidentified as something random ;) Lobeliods are fun plants.

I unfollow an obs when the IDs have moved beyond my competence, or interest. Or at least once 2 or 3 competent people agree.

Best Unknown finds?

General

karen5lund March 7, 2022, 1:15am 19

True! I unfollow when my unknowns reach Research Grade, or if they are no longer interesting (like long disagreements over ID). It’s nice to see them IDed, but I don’t want a lifelong commitment.

Topic		Replies	Views
Your Best Unknown Turned ID Story Nature Talk	8	232	August 15, 2025
Yes, identifying "unknown" observations matters! And can be rewarding! General	55	1227	February 5, 2026
Informative Unknowns Nature Talk	39	2323	April 13, 2023
At Last (the fruits of labor) General fun	24	1479	March 23, 2024
Identifying taxa just to remove them from "unknown" General	43	3102	December 26, 2022

Best Unknown finds?

Related topics