I strongly agree, though there is the problem that some of the best finds (new species, new populations, etc.) are misidentified as common species. Also, there is a way to incorporate the two ideas. In the identification guides, you can provide a link to observations that have been verified by the author like this one of my IDs for E. maculata: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?ident_user_id=nathantaylor&place_id=any&subview=grid&taxon_id=58893
With this, you have representative material. If this were a Texas guide, I could restrict to place. If illustrating seasonal trends, you can adjust the month. A lot of neat things you can do with the data.
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