What is the most interesting thing you have identified? I am intrigued to know, because I have come across some really strange things, like a Blue tongue skink in the ocean!
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Do you mean identified for someone else on iNaturalist or identified in the field? If it’s things I’ve seen in the field, I really found this velvet ant really interesting. But I also recently had a possible hybrid swallowtail that is pretty cool too.
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My current bias is towards wedge shaped beetles in the genus Ripiphorus. Nearly every species identified is an iNat first except for R rex/vierecki and R subdipterus. A group of observations in Colorado turned out to be R iridescens was a range extension from the type specimen in El Paso. In specimen loans that I have received, there are 2 males of species with no published descriptions (only females of those species are in the literature).
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I might not recall if I have identified organisms in unusual places, or outside their usual range, but I do keep a list of organisms that I have identified that represent a new record for iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/lists/4373177-Juan-Sphexs-iNat-First-identifications It felt really rewarding that my research was succesful and I was able to find a match for these fascinating insects. There’s also a chance that it’s the first time these species have been photographed alive and in the wild, there’s a project for it: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/first-known-photographs-of-living-specimens
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The first one that pops to mind is the first photo I’ve ever heard of for the Dismal Swamp Stink Bug:
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A crazy-looking moth was one of the first really exciting things I helped identify on iNaturalist. I don’t know a lot about moths, but I’m good at internet searches, and I figured this one was so bizarre that surely I could find it. I got to the right genus, but not the right species. This was also when I learned to always check for range information when deciding on a possible species ID.
See Alcathoe verrugo at https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/109293956
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I helped ID the first research grade observations of aptosimum neglectum and the first picture of Hymenomima Franckia ever reported online. Those are my two confidently coolest ids I have ever done.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/109855817
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/175810724
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It seems to me that every one of the new-to-me species that I find (taxa that I don’t immediately recognize) is really interesting, so it is hard for me to say which one of them is the most interesting.
But perhaps you meant to ask what is the most usual and strange thing I have ever found and identified?
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It’s fairly vanilla, but every time I find an American Chestnut (Castanea dentata) I get shivers down my spine.
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I’m relatively new to iNaturalist, but I once identified a hybrid plant. It was Silene × hampeana. It was my first time identifying a hybrid on the website.
Oh and I helped ID a Canada Goose (Branta canadensis). It was a confusing ID, but I researched into the species and found there is such thing as a salt and pepper Canada Goose mutation. The goose had a white face and speckling that confused a lot of people.
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The following link can be used to search through your IDs, sorted by most favorited by others, just replace my username with yours:
You can filter for species, change username, etc. For example:
Shows @Jarronevsbaru’s goose: Obs: 173423248
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I think the most intresting for me was one of my own, a pholcid spider that looked so iconic due to the shape of its “head” that I just knew it would be possible to go further then family, but it anyways took me some days to find the right taxon to put it (an iNat first). I was so happy when I finally found the right genus… and I even found one more record of those spiders on iNat later
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/421272-Mecolaesthus
If it is not about my own observations then I have to say those social agelenid spiders were pretty cool to ID the first time on iNat and I am always happy if I run into another observation.
One has to know that sociality in spiders is generally super rare, but those social agelenids are basically unknown due to their little studied location in central Africa
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/502383-Agelena-consociata
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The most interesting one would have to be this one:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/111609400
The one that’s either a great find, or an unfortunate case of a planted specimen or comes from a garden would be this one:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/110119853
The one that just looked odd to me when I stared at it for some time would be this one:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/64731143
cool, it looks really interesting, and observations or identification, doesn’t matter
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For me the most interesting things are the ones I can’t identify. I just stare in awe and think: wow, something like this really exists!
when I was sorting through unknowns from Africa, i came across this planaria:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/175925001
Under bark of tree I found this myriapoda:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/161848855
When I got into snorkelling I came across quite a few incredible beasts:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/161848855
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Good link. I tried it and found this centipede, which was apparently the first on iNat. (Not that I know much about centipedes - but a clueless new user hadn’t put any ID on it at all, so I could at least put a general ID on it and get it in front of centipede people.)
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It was their first and only obs. And a wow one at that.
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I love that I correctly identified the Double-Banded Scoliid Wasp. And it’s so beautiful. Now I see quite a few.
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Just recently this inat first of the mountain cuscus
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