Omg so cool! Thanks! I have two that I know of on my property. I loose track of their locations. I’ve read that they are often poached so I won’t disclose exact coordinates.
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Also, there aren’t many iNatters in my area. I’m the only one for miles and miles.
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Is this rare? It looks rare. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/252940716
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There is a map on every observation* that shows how many have been seen in the area.
*Fine, there are some exceptions, such as observations with private or missing locations.
Ok, thanks
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I have dozens of one-of-a-kind mollusk observations but they are mostly very small species. They probably aren’t rare but they wouldn’t be spotted by a casual stroller on the beach.
On the other hand, these two Venerids are fairly large but no one else has posted an observation of them, so it is probably safe to conclude that they are rare.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/244985389
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/244977570
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Be careful! I once had the only photo of a live specimen online (only other photo was the type specimen) and first photo on iNat: the bug Nicuesa speciosa. But a couple years later another one was identified that had been posted before mine!
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Big-eyed thick jawed spider :) Probably not the rarest creature in the world, but it has notably less observations than most animal, with only five observed in the month I found it (December), with 0 being research grade. During the winter here where it seems kinda barren where i am, I’ve resorted to flipping fallen leaves on the ground and seeing what might be under, and its been pretty rewarding. Lots of springtails. Its nice to see that life exists in the smallest places it can, and I think its cool that leaf litter is an ecosystem in its own right, a different mode of life under my feet and out of sight under a thin layer of leaves. Overall, happy I picked this random leaf to flip and got this cool little spider and happy to have iNat to kickstart this nature journey into overdrive and make me do things like flip leaves in search of bugs and critters and giving me an easy to use resourse to share and learn about the world around me. Link to iNat post and youtube video for the spider : https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/256432478 and https://youtu.be/H2iMEXYQN5I
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Welcome, @underthebloosky to the Forums! I appreciate your celebration of leaf litter and am glad you are finding ways to continue to seek out nature even when it feels barren in your area.
If you are newer to iNaturalist and your nature journey (I like how you worded that), a thread you might especially enjoy participating on is What is Your Favorite Lifer from this week?.
It is a behemoth of a thread that has been going for three and a half years but don’t be put off by that (and try not to be jealous of @sebastiandoak who is currently posting the most glorious shots from his recent trip to the Peruvian Amazon). The participants on the thread appreciate each personal first, be it fungus, spider, frog, what-have you. I linked you to the bottom, I think, but just tap anywhere you like to read.
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Thanks for the name drop. I agree that the lifer thread is a real inspiration. Both if its being able to share the many awesome things I am seeing in the amazon. Or back home the many different moths that still show up to a UV light sheet. Or different species of leptotarsus (Crane flies), and have people show love and encouragement of that exploration.
Its also awesome to see what others are finding, as a way to get exposed to critters you would never know to consider looking up and learning about.
Talking about youtube and springtails, I think @alexis_orion / naturefold has had an truely inspirational year, with his springtails he uploads, but also in sharing his technique of what you can find just by going out, looking close…and of course macroing and stacking. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddKAJ1Qd1wc
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I have an observation of an undescribed species of deep-sea shark which was seen at an agricultural show, and three observations of an undescribed species of hoverfly seen in my garden. I’m only the only observer for the conifer Podocarpus pallidus, and a skink Emoia mokolahi. All of these observations are from Tonga.
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Freshly IDed, and if the IDers are right with their comments of this being a first photo of this species at all, this got to be the rarest of my finds, despite having a handful of iNat first as well
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chemp is my African Orthoptera taxon specialist
Recently got my rarest species overall! I went down to the type locality of Isoetes mississippiensis and actually found an individual! There are only two known localities globally, and as neither site is protected, they are at a high risk of extinction.
My observation here: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/254339021
Is only the second individual posted to iNat, and one of very, very few in situ shots of the species. It also happens to be Mississippi’s only endemic plant species!
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Wow, so cool. Southern Africa seems to be an entomological treasure trove. During my trip to SA last year I also got the first known photo of Histrionotus lightfooti. And the funniest thing about it is that @cecileroux photographed a beetle of the same species not even 45 min later only a few dozen km away.
Also got an iNat first for this katydid in the same national park on the same day.
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I would say probably my Scarlet Snake or Psuedomethoca Simillima. Scarlet Snakes are already elusive where I am, and I found one my first time roadcruising. While Psuedomethoca Simillima isn’t that rare, I do have the first video or document of its sting I could find.
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How amazing is that! Wow!
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This is the reason that I have to periodically go through my list of iNat firsts and manually remove some. Currently 341 taxa, but I haven’t pruned it in a while so that count might go down.
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Y’know, just a list of your iNat firsts, nothing much :)
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Sadly down to just 306 taxa after I finished pruning it. Which goes to show that identifiers are continuing to work on even some quite old observations. Gooooooo identifiers!
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