In this observation , an out-or-range occurrence is explicitly due to human transport of a larval food plant, nicely documented in the comments with the observation. I used the DQA “Captive/cultivated” to mark this occurrence as human-aided. Is this the appropriate notation? IMHO, a simple annotat…

Thanks @natev for that link. I’m on a fence in this particular complicated observation. Here is my thinking on this sequence of actual/potential events: Had the larva been documented at its original location in Texas, it would clearly be wild. IF the larva had been transported intentionally to P…

This discussion has helped clarify the Captive/Cultivated designation for me. I don’t see much difference between the hitchhiker on the lichen and an insect in a root ball, so based on the other points raised in the discussion, it follows that they’d both be considered wild (but hopefully in the nea…

And also that the reared-out adult would be considered captive (I forgot to add that earlier).

Captive vs. wild – the only DQA topic for which every conceivable edge case has to have an entire Forum thread.

Probably because iNaturalist uses the term “wild” in a way which few others uses it. In this case, it’s a moth that was transported by mail, then held captive in a cage, but considered wild. I think that changing the terminology would go a long way towards clearing up these debates.

It’s wild for our purposes. Humans didn’t intend to transport it, though they did intentionally transport its home.

“Humans didn’t intend to transport it, though they did intentionally transport its home.” … so they know where its home was and can mark that organism [wild] with that original location, as they can mark the “home” the Lichen [wild] with its original location. If I take a branch or a leaf home to…

The lichen was bought, ‘shipped in’ they said. So they cannot know where exactly it was harvested.

Diana, You may be exactly correct, but I think you are reading too much into the phrasing they used. The observation notes literally say, “Was found as a caterpillar on lichen shipped from Texas”. This doesn’t say whether it was bought commercially or grabbed from a natural setting, nor who found…

Would you expect to harvest commercial quantities of lichen in Texas? Would it not have been harvested in a more lichen-friendly climate, then shipped via Texas? You made me curious - I googled - you can buy lichen - but there is no indication where it was harvested. None.

Without knowing which lichens arrived in Pennsylvania with the larva in tow, I can’t address the issue of “commercial quantities” of lichen. Lichens are abundant and diverse here in the Texas Hill Country, the epicenter of the distribution of the moth Cisthene tenuifascia. I can envision a shipmen…

Human-assisted occurrences--"captive/cultivated"?

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Human-assisted occurrences--"captive/cultivated"?

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