I was identifying Ammopelmatus pictus on the ‘Identify’ tab of iNaturalist and noticed something peculiar. First, I should note that A. pictus was formerly Stenopelmatus pictus until a recent revision was published. Most of the observations already had many users suggesting identifications, the vast majority of which were either ‘Ammopelmatus’ or ‘A. pictus’, before the taxon swap was actuated. This is the discrepancy that I would like to point out:
Pre-Taxon Swap: When someone preceding you puts an incorrect ID on an observation and you want to leave it at the genus level, you are met with two options:
Is the evidence provided enough to confirm this is insert species?
- I don’t know, but I am sure this is insert genus
- No, but this is a member of insert genus
If you choose the latter (because you are certain that they are wrong), it will state at the bottom of your ID:
your username disagrees this is insert species
Thus, the collective ID is directly affected and the confidence level is reduced. This makes a large difference on observations with few IDs where disagreements can revoke research grade status or mark the observation as the genus-level only.
Post-Taxon Swap: “your username disagrees this is insert species” disappears. iNaturalist switches your choice from “No, but this is a member of insert genus” to “I don’t know, but I am sure this is insert genus”.
In effect, this could mean that 100 people agreeing at the genus-level only can be overridden post-taxon swap by just 2 people making an incorrect ID at the species level, whereas before, the other 100 people were explicitly disagreeing with their IDs.
Now, obviously, after the taxon swap you can just revisit these observations and make your ID again, but this is very time consuming and could easily be avoided.
Examples:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/34085275
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/45538469
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/22816041
This is not only an issue at the genus level, but any other level above the species-level:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/4902195