The story of the cricket who nobody acknowledged

Our friend, Allonemobius shalontaki, is an insect worth feeling bad for.
He is often heard, but rarely seen. He and the rest of his kind scream from right below us all day long, but to almost NO acknowledgment.
At last, in 2006, A. Shalontaki finally got a research paper done on his kind.
But unfortunately, the first study done on his kind, also turned out to be the last, as no other scientific documents have been dedicated to his kind. And they still call with quiet screams that never grabs our attention. That document, a SINA page, and a very short article on some orthoptera website are the only things about it online. NO wikipedia article, you can’t even observe it on iNaturalist.
And that’s why its up to us to make observations about this cricket, like I am. They are very hard to catch but I am in an attempt to see if I can breed them! They seem to have had their range expand, or at least they never figured out it lives in Nebraska. I hear it all the time over here, but the range map on SINA doesn’t say it’s supposed to be.
And if we don’t pay attention to his kind, who knows, they may declare WARFARE on humans, intentionally eating our crops in swarms all because we never acknowledged them.

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Wow! I hope you’re able to breed them! It’s a shame not much research has been done on this species :(

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Be sure to have the taxon added once you start observing them.

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Kudos for raising awareness about the little things that make the world go 'round!

As for the lack of Wikipedia page and presence on iNat, I’m fairly certain that both platforms allow anybody to make contributions, so you personally have the power to change that singlehandedly.

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The wikipedia part, yes I can, but I think you need to be a curator to add a new taxon on iNat

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Do you have a photo of your critter to add to the topic? I would like to see it. :relaxed:

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Take heart! I have two such experiences in bringing to light the substantive existence of a couple of moths I have encountered regularly. The first was a regular to my yard, posted to BG year after year without a name or tribe, languishing in the folder of moths. I found that the same moth apparent to my eyes was also reported in two other states. So I went to work in championing the moth, connected with an expert in the micro moth field, Terry Harrison, who gladly accepted a speciment, dissected and researched, and found the moth’s closest relative abides in Japan. We were able to assign a place in the taxonomy to species level, today the species is well represented on BG and here on iNat. (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/21793202) The second moth is in a holding pattern, no name, a temporary placement to genera, many specimens dissected but no one to work the family. With patience, a little intervention from the world of academia, and this moth, too will have a name and place. The populations are established, but the science has not yet caught up.(https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/30980325)

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I only have 2 currently, they are super shy and very hard to catch. I will try my best to take a photo, but it might take a while for me to finally get a moment when it holds still!

If you have any tips, let me know.

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Pop them in a small, clear container and snap away? You’ll miss focus on some or they might be blurry when they move, but you should get at least a few reasonable photos out of the exercise. A well-lit area will allow for faster shutter speeds and should reduce the number of blurry shots.

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By using search of external databases everybody can add a taxon, only if it’s not found a help of curator is needed.

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I figured out how to add the new species while identifying this observation, but it could also be gray ground cricket

yay it can now be observed on inat, but thats just one step.
Edit: Just checked the calls again so its actually gray ground cricket

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It has a wikipedia page(albeit two sentences), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allonemobius_shalontaki
that was made today.
@greeper782 Thank you.

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i actually, in fact, made that page! your welcome

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There are quite a few critters that are heard but rarely seen. We’ve got a local cicada that I have yet to get an observation of even though there are dozens in my yard.

I’d love to see the AI recognition move to sound. I love the Merlin sound ID - it would be great to have this for more than just birds. Anyone know if this has been discussed?

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It was, but don’t remember the exact topic, you can try to search it.

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You’re right - that was not hard to search for :-).
https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/suggest-id-for-sounds/18115/5
https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/recognize-sounds-automatically/3527

Summary: don’t hold your breath…

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