Repeat observations, same individual - how to submit?

General
1

This weekend we went out for the first time to collect monarch eggs. Now we have a few (5) at home. I submitted one record of an egg - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/27037016
So far two of the 5 eggs have hatched.
Is there any value in submitting additional photographs and/or records as they progress? Possibly to provide data on developmental stages and timing?
I know for Monarchs such timing is well known, but what about for other species? For the record, we got a bit carried away and brought home a number of leaves with eggs, none of which we have been able to identify yet. Hatching them out is separate jars. One example is this gall on a tree leaf https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/26991532 - it has since opened up to reveal a tiny (like 2-3mm) grub of some sort. I took photos under the microscope last night, the thing is absolutely stunning! Clear body with regular white internal spots. I added the photo to the original observation, but wonder if that is the best way to so it https://static.inaturalist.org/photos/42229675/original.jpg?1560789869
I hope that at some stage I will be able to get an id for this bug, and then it can be used to provide the id to the early life stages of the same individual.

Here’s another scenario: you take photo’s of a tree in winter, but learn that you really need to see the leaved to get a positive ID. So you return to the same tree in spring and get photos of the leaf. New observation? What to do with the original observation then?

Thanks

1 Like
2

The basic guideline is that if you are observing an individual organism over different days, you should make them separate observations rather than add new photos to the first observation. At this time, you can link observations together by using comments, the observation description section, or observation fields. But, this is an area of iNaturalist that could use some improvement.

There are several existing topics about this subject you might want to take a look at:
https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/uploading-observations-of-the-same-individual-over-time/2956
https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/link-observations/1367
https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/using-the-field-similar-observation-set-for-linking-observations-of-lepidoptera-when-raising-on/1018

7 Likes
3

This topic was automatically closed 60 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.