I’ve collected a few handfuls of leaf litter and humus from the rainforest to look at under the microscope. There are many small critters ranging from springtails to spiders to beetles to woodlice. On the first day I had them I observed using the location of collection and calling them wild but afte…

[image] nightcapranger: I feel like these little guys don’t know they are captive, they are still surrounded by familiar things and going about their business. I don’t think this is relevant to whether or not they should be considered captive for the purpose of iNaturalist. If you mark an obs…

In what way do you mean the animals are “greatly changed” by being in the sealed container for a longer time? If they were killed after collection, you would still post them as wild and with the collection time and date. I don’t think it is very different if they are still alive in the box when you…

It seems entirely possisble that an insect could have hatched or pupated in that timeframe for example. If you kill an organism soon after collecting it you are preserving its state. If you rear an insect for months and then kill it you should no longer mark it as wild. This is not a novel question,…

I agree with the above, but it is most important for the original time and location of collection to be available, from every observation that was made of the organism. I remember collecting a hoverfly larva from leaf litter once. The larva (which could not be identified to species) I posted as wi…

I think the answer to the question depends entirely on the particular species/individual being observed. Everyone agrees that an organism that’s been in captivity for a year is captive and one that’s been in captivity for an hour can still be “wild”, but where the line is ought to depend on how much…

Yeah, I think this is an approach that makes a lot of sense in your case since you’re familiar enough with the organisms to make that call. If you are certain an insect was in your sample in the same state at time of collection it’s probably better to mark it as wild. But I think if OP is just looki…

For my purposes what I’m most interested in recording is the presence of a species at a location, rather than the life stage of a particular organism. That said I recognize it could pollute the seasonality data if the situation leads to pupation or some other development out of the natural schedule. …

Personally, I think it’s best to use the date and location of capture as the date and location of observation, even if the photos were taken later. As to whether it is marked wild or captive, I think this depends on a variety of factors, as mentioned by paul_dennehy.

Observing bugs from leaf litter sample

General

Topic		Replies	Views
Captivity vs. Wild Question General question	25	626	January 12, 2026
Still "wild" or already "captive"? General	8	664	October 18, 2020
DQA for specimens removed from the wild General question	28	1433	June 16, 2023
Captive, but captured nearby? General	13	2093	April 21, 2020
Annotating preserved specimens General	19	401	February 28, 2025

Observing bugs from leaf litter sample

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