# Research grade observation with only 1 ID for its taxa

**URL:** <https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/research-grade-observation-with-only-1-id-for-its-taxa/78013>\
**Category:** Bug Reports\
**Created:** [April 20, 2026, 7:42pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/research-grade-observation-with-only-1-id-for-its-taxa/78013 "2026-04-20T19:42:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Naelin](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/naelin/32/45174_2.png) [@Naelin](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/Naelin)\
**Post date:** [April 20, 2026, 7:42pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/research-grade-observation-with-only-1-id-for-its-taxa/78013/1 "2026-04-20T19:42:53Z")

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**Platform** : Web browser

**Browser** , if a website issue: Firefox

**URLs (aka web addresses) of any relevant observations or pages**: [https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/350059649](https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/350059649)

**Screenshots of what you are seeing** :

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/3X/c/f/cf7832e3c39c7dcfd1f1f8f11cc9cb2edec4754f.jpeg)

**Description of problem** : The observation linked above has only one ID at species level, but it is research grade. The community taxon is enabled, and there are no data quality options ticked. The observation still showed research grade when checking from a private browser session.

Step 1: Open the observation and verify the research status

Step 2: Check community taxon breakdown - 2 IDs, only 1 at species level

Step 3: Verify that “as good as it can be” is not ticked (Though it should move the observation to “casual” if it was ticked, anyway

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**Author:** ![DianaStuder](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/dianastuder/32/43358_2.png) [@DianaStuder](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/DianaStuder)\
**Post date:** [April 20, 2026, 8:46pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/research-grade-observation-with-only-1-id-for-its-taxa/78013/2 "2026-04-20T20:46:47Z")

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Obs has moved to Needs ID with a second ID added.

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**Author:** ![tiwane](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/tiwane/32/54612_2.png) [@tiwane](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/tiwane)\
**Post date:** [April 20, 2026, 8:56pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/research-grade-observation-with-only-1-id-for-its-taxa/78013/3 "2026-04-20T20:56:15Z")

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What we think happened here is that the observation _was_ RG, but the account that added the agreeing species ID was deleted and there was an error in removing its content. The ID was removed but the observation still had the record of the agreeing ID on the back end. It’s been refreshed now.

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**Author:** ![tiwane](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/tiwane/32/54612_2.png) [@tiwane](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/tiwane)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2026, 3:00pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/research-grade-observation-with-only-1-id-for-its-taxa/78013/4 "2026-04-21T15:00:52Z")

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Closed on April 21, 2026, 3:00pm UTC

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