Several of my posting animals observations are flagged as “inactive taxon” even though a simple google search shows the animal names recognized as valid. Why?
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Can you link to an example of what you are seeing?
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Inactive taxa on Inat are usually taxa that were replaced by a different species due to a merge/split, or deleted since they aren’t valid.
I don’t think Inat clears species once their names are changed but they are marked as inactive.
Hope this helps
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I’m guessing you’re talking about observations like this?
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/292700532
This can happen if you have an observation with that ID, and then a curator inactivates the taxon (ideally curators shouldn’t inactivate taxa with active IDs though). I don’t think that happened here, as the taxon hasn’t been edited recently. You probably managed to upload an observation with an inactive taxon as the ID. I’m not sure exactly how this happens (or if it is considered a bug), but it might have something to do with file names and placeholders. What is your upload workflow?
If you think it should be an active taxon, you can add a flag and curators can take a look.
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But as I said a simple google search shows the names are valid.
I have worked with specialist who deal with ostracods and they all recognize Candona crogmaniana
as a valid name.
It’s not clear why this particular taxon is inactive in our system as it was inactivated a long time ago. You should flag the taxon and provide literature references, and a curator and activate it.
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iNat follows specific taxonomic references for specific taxa. Candona crogmaniana is not listed on WoRMS (our source for crustaceans), either on its own or as a synonym, which is probably why it was inactivated. I recommend contacting WoRMS about this, they are generally pretty quick to respond about missing taxa.
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This is sad. Google C crogmaniana , it is absolutely a recognized scientific (google it). from all the answers I’m getting it makes me wonder about Inat,
But flag a taxon and you are likely get someone who studies butterfly giving their opinion on cladocerans and rotifers. I’ve had this happen more than once.
Look at my observation then google the animals listed as unknown, Google them and see if the animals name are recognized. Me, I don’t claim any expertise in any of the groups I study but over 20 years I’ve have formed a fun group of specialist who are happy to identify the critters i find.
If there are not curators who specialize in your group, you can apply to become one.
https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/curator+guide#becoming
As a curator, I am happy to take a look if you have a source for the name. I know we prefer to reference WoRMS, but it isn’t always good for freshwater groups so we can use primary literature if WoRMS doesn’t have the name.
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If you don’t flag it, it’s not likely to get fixed any time soon. A curator would have to realize there’s an issue and take the intitive to act. I’m not sure there’s any curator covering this group.
Inactive taxon should not be able to be added as identifications. Atleast to my knowledge. They really aren’t that searchable either.
No, but it happens occasionally. I just don’t remember how. You can see that the observation is new but the taxon must have been inactivated years ago as it has no history yet.
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Before you conclude that iNat users are incompetent, please familiarize yourself with the website.
As in this thread that you started, I am not sure the issue is entirely what you think it is.
You are still entering many of your observations with placeholder IDs because you have mistyped the name. If there are cases where the taxon is missing or inactive, it is best to add an ID for a parent taxon that is in the database and then flag the taxon asking that the species be added. I cannot find any taxon flags that you have created, so I am puzzled about why you are certain that this will result in the request being evaluated by someone who lacks the expertise to address it properly.
I understand that iNat must seem rather frustrating to you when you are primarily observing zooplankton that are not well-represented in iNat’s taxonomy. This is because taxa are often added only when they are needed – the effort involved in creating and maintaining a full taxonomy of every species on earth would not be proportional to the benefits when a substantial number of these taxa may never get observations on a citizen-science site where most users do not have access to microscopy.
Even in cases where other users have helpfully added IDs based on your placeholder or pointed out that information is missing from the observation, you have not edited the observation or updated your ID. You also seem to have deleted some observations where users had provided assistance with understanding iNat’s rather tricky and complex interface. It is likely that your experience with iNat will be improved (you will get better engagement from other users and more helpful expert feedback) if you are able to figure out how to ensure that your observation data is correct and how to avoid entering placeholders.
It is also a bit frustrating for the people who have been trying to help you, when their comments (in observations, private messages, or responses to your forum posts) get no response and therefore they never know whether you saw and understood them, and when you seem to have pre-judged the community as a whole without giving us a chance to work with you to figure out the situation.
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Just to let you know: I have written WoRMS about adding Candona crogmaniana, and will update the taxonomy on iNat when they do if no one does it first.
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