Currently subspecies IDs only move the observation ID forward if there are at least 2 IDs for that subspecies (unless the only ID on the observation is a subspecies level ID). Can we change the behavior to something like “move the observation ID as if the subspecies ID were at the species level”? C…

OK, this has been implemented! Note that right now it will only work for observations that are newly reindexed since this was released a few minutes ago. We’re going to run a script to update the ~ 275k observations which this affects, that might take a few hours. I forced a reindex on one of my o…

FYI, I changed the subject of this thread to be more specific, since it wasn’t clear to me what was being proposed here while perusing the thread titles. And yes, like Tony said, I banged my head against this problem for a while when we initially separated the obs taxon and the community taxon (whic…

[image] tiwane: Forgot to reply to the thread about this in the Google Group. For reference, the link to the Google Groups post: https://groups.google.com/d/msg/inaturalist/KnDFoW6BNok/dOXSr4GsDgAJ (I though you guys didn’t see it :sweat_smile:)

@kueda should we close this topic as this is already on our radar but have not determined a method for it? Then anyone who voted for it will get their votes back.

I just ran into this again today. It’s been something like 9 months and still no fix. To me this is a terrible bug and I’ve just resorted to not identifying something to subspecies to avoid it.

Yeah, I just ran into the same problem. For now, I am withdrawing a couple of subspecies IDs and identifying only to species level to avoid this.

I think a solution to the research grade problem is perhaps to add a category to research grade. For example there could be “research grade (species)” and “research grade (subspecies)”. So, in the “sp1 sp1 ssp1” case, it would be “research grade (species)”. But another ssp1 ID need to be made t…

[image] tiwane: prevent situations where a sequence like sp1 sp1, ssp1 results in the obs taxon being ssp1 and the obs being Research Grade Isn’t this already an issue? A sequence of ssp1, sp1, with the second user answering “I don’t know but I am sure…” to the Potential Disagreement prompt r…

I was directed to continue this conversation here (I started a separate thread, not knowing there was one already for this issue: https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/identifications-that-include-a-subspecies-ignored-in-observation-id/8926 ) I think this could be solved computationally without being over…

To add my little two cents worth. As explained above, subspecies ids should change the obs taxon like taxons of higher ranks. To explain the issue going about, as I explained here . If someone submits a obs with the id Class Aves or birds and I submit a Red-shafted Flicker (Colaptes auratus cafer) i…

Leading subspecies IDs should change the obs taxon like leading IDs of other ranks

Feature Requests

Topic		Replies	Views
Have leading subspecies IDs update Observation Taxon below species, even when coarser IDs present Feature Requests	21	575	April 9, 2026
Request not to add subspecies ID? General	40	1621	December 29, 2025
Make 'Needs ID' Independent of BOTH 'Research Grade' AND 'Casual' Statuses Feature Requests	54	1147	July 9, 2024
Research Grade with only one ID at that rank Bug Reports	123	5119	January 15, 2026
Choosing not to identify subspecies General	44	5260	March 26, 2019

Leading subspecies IDs should change the obs taxon like leading IDs of other ranks

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