There are a few but if I have to pick one, it is this beauty:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/192340082
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Two new Toxomerus species for the US!:
Toxomerus mutuus from Lake Jackson, Texas
Toxomerus lacrymosus/musicus from Hidalgo County, TX
Also these are a couple species that I had seen diagrams of in papers and was really excited to finally identify photos of the actual flies:
Toxomerus mosaicus from AgronomĆa, CABA, Argentina
Toxomerus saphiridiceps from JardĆn, Antioquia, Colombia
And we finally got this one described this year!!
Toxomerus thompsoni from Altamira, Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic
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To paraphrase: Gerald is a muskrat. Or perhaps heās a beaver. Or just possibly, heās one of a number of other identifications that were offered with tongue firmly planted in cheek.
From the photographic evidence, heās a mammal swimming in a pond, and hardly a great example of his species with diagnostic features clearly visible. But he will forever be the leading example of what iNatās open identification system, where anyone can offer an opinion, can lead to when taken to its most absurd excess.
I havenāt checked the observation recently, but I do believe that muskrat is still the current Community Taxon, according to the āgreater than 2/3 voteā rule.
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Iām not sure pride is a fitting term, but I find some IDs are more satisfying than others. The most satisfying for me are when Iām able to fish something rare and endangered out of obscurity, such as finding Isotria medeoloides among Medeola observations, or Shortia galacifolia among Galax. Easy to confuse, but so much more exciting than the initially suggested more common ID.
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The most intriguing observation Iāve recently identified was this one from the Florida Keys.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/252631640
I noticed it last Friday night, and spent a good part of the next day trying to figure out what it could possibly be, even to phylum. Certainly not a mollusk. Maybe part of a fish or turtle skull? Or an osteoderm or scute? One by one, I eliminated the possibilities. The pattern in the first photo seemed vaguely familiar, but the second photo was very different. Finally, late Saturday night, I stumbled on the answer: itās a piece of a sea biscuit that had broken in such a way as to separate just one petalloid. Yes, I had seen that pattern from the outer surface of the test, but Iād never seen the inner surface before.
Yesterday, there was another one that didnāt take quite so long to identify, but was notable for its rarity: an Atlantic Angelshark (Squatina dumeril), one of only 23 observations on iNat. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/253430126
Finally, an observation that was an easy ID but still deserves some recognition. The By-the-wind Sailor (Velella velella) is a cosmopolitan marine species, found in oceans around the world. This one from Wednesday takes the record for the northernmost observation of any of them: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/253291772
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Not necessaraly any one particular ID, but Iām really proud of all the Galliform IDs I have made, and I am especially happy when I can annotate things such as sex on the species with less apparent sexual dimorphism, such as the Himalayan Snowcock.
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When you posted your top 10 species identified for others recently, I was amazed. It made me go read a bit more about non-captive Galliforms, which I knew only a bit about before, mostly chicken-affiliated.
(My neighbors lovingly call me la gallina (hen) because my last name said aloud means this in Maya. It is spelled differently though.)
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County record of a Cressonās mining bee and really one of very few observations statewide. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/240173405
I plant to go back in the spring and see if I can find them again.
Another county record was a Fancy Dung Beetle that made its way inside of my house. Also only the 3rd observation in the entire state. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/178104274
I had been killing asian jumping worms on the property and left them in a bucket once which eventually smelled horrible, apparently it was a delightful scent to both this beetle and some kind of burying beetle.
Another favorite was this agapostemon nest I accidentally dug up while planting some things. I thought at first it was some kind of man made object because the holes were so perfect!
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/239509643
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Very cool! Dominican Republic is my home country! I try to post observations when I visit once a year.
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The last I checked, he had been swimming in a pond but was then on some green grass. :)
And about favorite IDsā¦ Iāve never made a very āimpressiveā ID, but it was kind of satisfying to add subspecies IDs to a lot of observations of my favorite bird. (Resplendent Quetzal)
That was amazing Diana!
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Iām proud of this one. Itās my own observation of a common species, but one I wasnāt familiar with prior to taking that photo. I made the ID using a field guide and was able to confidently explain why when challenged.
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Honestly Iām not that proud of my IDs because Iām using google image search, besides the very basics like bumblebee or mushroom I canāt do much on my own
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The iNat team recently fixed a lot of Gerald bugs.
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Any time I correctly ID a spider, Iām elated! Rod Crawford is my hero
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This caddisfly: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/21765821 which I first thought was a moth, until @catchang and @nlblock said it might not be, so I changed my ID several times until I found an old thesis that described how this species looks and acts in my area. It is now the only caddisfly frequently identified to species in this part of California.
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I am always extremely grateful for Spider IDs as I am very weak in Arachnids.
But can you explain the Rod Crawford connection? All I found was that he was an actor?
Iām a generalist identifier, I tend to focus only on very common and easy taxa that get observed everyday or species that Iām particularly familiar with, so I donāt have specific IDs to be proud of.
I particularly like bringing old unidentified or misidentified observations to research grade though, or decluttering the map from cultivated plants that escaped casual grade.
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Johnny Crawford is the actor.
Idk where in the heck you found that he was an actor. Johnny Crawford I like. Rod Crawford is a spider guy. See here: https://www.burkemuseum.org/news/spider-qa-rod-crawford
Idk what or where you read. Heās some kind of spider expert. Maybe youāre thinking of Johnny Crawford. Singer and actor.
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