How can I use the annotations to refine a search?

General
1

I would like to search for photos of caterpillars (at different taxonomic levels). Can I filter out the observations of adults, so I don’t have to wade through such a large volume of photos? I have found where to note the life stage in an observation, but not how to use that as a search criterion.

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2

On the “Identify” module on the website, there is an option in the advanced filters to filter for observations with or without a particular life stage. Note that a lot of observations are not annotated, so you might find it more useful to sort only for ones that have been annotated as larvae rather than to exclude ones annotated as adults. (The keyboard shortcuts in Identify – see the little keyboard icon at the bottom left – are also a super efficient way to add annotations to observations.)

If you prefer to use Explore, you can manipulate the URL to add the criteria you are interested in. See this thread for details: https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/how-to-use-inaturalists-search-urls-wiki-part-1-of-2/63

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Try this:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?term_id=1&term_value_id=6&taxon_id=47157

Refine as needed. Hope this helps.

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Are you planning to search in a specific area and/or for specific families/genus etc. of larvae? I’ve been adding annotations to Lepidopteran larvae for some time because I was frustrated with trying to weed through all the photos just to find larvae.

I’ve been using search screens for some time and it is a great time-saver.
I’ll post an example of a search screen if you let me know what you are looking for. Be somewhat specific –

5

Cool,

And then if we remove the /identify from the URL we end up in Explore for a search instead of Identify
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?term_id=1&term_value_id=6&taxon_id=47157&place_id=any

Really!?! You Lepido people have annotated that many? Hokey smokes!!! I’m thoroughly impressed.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?taxon_id=47157&place_id=any

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Hi,

I have a bunch of Lepidoptera caterpillar photos I am hoping to narrow down. I was hoping to be able to search a family (Noctuidae) and Geography (Alaska) and exclude photos of adults.

Thanks for working on annotations. I have been trying to be more consistent about marking my sightings as larva when appropriate in the hopes that iNat will someday become more flexible with its searches.

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I see it now. Thank you very much!

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if you’re looking for photos as opposed to observations, you can filter in the taxon photo page. for example: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/47157-Lepidoptera/browse_photos?quality_grade=any&term_id=1&term_value_id=2&layout=grid

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