Who here has either observed the first example of a species, or even holds the only instance of an observation?
For me it’s the Spanish flag, member of the Serranidae found in the Gulf of Mexico
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you may enjoy this project :)
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/first-known-photographs-of-living-specimens
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I started a life list just to keep up with them.
https://www.inaturalist.org/lists/632339-First-Observation-on-iNat
142 so far, mostly of moths from Costa Rica, but there are a handful of others. It’s always fun to find the “first” of something. Congrats! I hope you find many more!!
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Is there a way to keep track of this on iNat itself? I know I have some state and county firsts, but it would be interesting to see if there are any iNat firsts I have without going through, observation by observation.
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Unfortunately my one “first time” observation doesn’t fall into the “Living” category. 
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https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/30029157
Admittedly I wasn’t the one to recognize it, but I dug it up while doing a scan of every single tenebrionid on iNat.
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I’m working in SE Asia, so it’s pretty common for me and my colleagues to have the first iNat observations of a species. Especially when it comes to insects and plants.
Here’s an example of one that, at the time was the first observation on iNat: Chrysochroa saundersii
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My most significant iNat first is Cortinarius kioloensis, a species of webcap. I have observed it twice (one from today) and am pretty sure about what it is after reading multiple reports.
This is the link to my most recent observation:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/46057466
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I’ve inserted two obs of a sprecies of little plant that at the time didn’t existed on iNat:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/41105340
Still the only two obs on iNat, but the plant is known for Portugal, so… not a huge discovery. 
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Welcome to the forum!
How to find out if you’re the first person to observe a species? Welcome felix75!
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I have some first finds (or first determined…who knows…) as well.
I was pretty amazed by this observation, as I did not even have a clou for the family level at first. I love it, when I can learn something new here: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/39115136
Another first I really love was this one: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/42603919
Beforehand I had a conversation with the person, who described this species (smckamey) and he asked me to have a look for them for some specific pictures. I did so (unfortunately did not find them since we talked :-/), but in the end I figured out, that I had already some pictures of them on my harddrive :-). I´m still on the hunt for the nymphal stage… I like it that it did not just happen by accident, but it was a search with a happy ending
I quite probably have several more firsts in my uploads, as about 2/3 of my observations in Ecuador are not research grade as ID is often more difficult compared to other places. E.g. this (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/44376218) could well be another first, but nobody really knows. I am excited to see, which of my observations will be determined in the future…waiting for the right people to see them :-)
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Ideally, someone can determine it. If you then go over to the taxon page, it will show you, if there are more observations of what you have observed. Or if the taxon is not even on iNat yet, you of course know as well… :-)
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Good luck for someone confirming your observations! I asked some Top-Identifiers for that genuus to have a ook at your observation. Fingers crossed :-)
Amzamz kindly informed me I had a first of a species (at this point, only of it’s kind).
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/39498162
Thank you to Andreas Manz Curator for recognizing this species and letting me know. I think it was very sweet of him.
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Welcome to the forum!
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For research grade iNat firsts I have Sorghum leiocladum, Euphrasia caudata, Pittosporum resiniferum and Notograptus guttatus that I’m aware of.
Admittedly only the Notograptus guttatus is particularly rare (and very cool considering it was just a random fish I photographed on a field trip 8 years ago and immediately forgot about). The rest have plenty of records on other platforms.
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Welcome to the forum! Sounds pretty cool.
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