Light trapping is the best way to find new species to observe! I’ve been doing it in my back alley in a major metropolitan area and still regularly get new stuff
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I have this observation of a Corbicula shell. It is most likely the widespread and invasive Asian Clam, however, it could be the also invasive C. largillierti, which has not been recorded in the midwest U.S. at all (on iNaturalist.) We will never know, however, because I had accidentally crushed the shell. Oh well.
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It is! In my case, these are just the few dim night lights on two sides of our house. We live at a dark end of a road near the woods, so it’s been interesting seeing what comes up!
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probably this Genus Dipturus from Cornwall, UK on August 04, 2023 at 02:24 PM by fishking. found in a big rockpool · iNaturalist skate which i found washed up in a rockpool near Padstow.
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What is the rarest species you’ve ever observed?
I have three observations of an undescribed hoverfly (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?subview=map&taxon_id=956935&user_id=islandnaturespotter&verifiable=any) from Tonga (they were all seen in the place I lived in, also I’ve observed a podocarp endemic to two islands in Tonga
(https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/135638-Podocarpus-pallidus), an orchid (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1187523-Robiquetia-tongaensis) endemic to two (or one) islands in Tonga, and a potentially wild observation of Pritchardia pacifica (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/130733180).
What are yours?
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[consolidated your post here]
What does that mean?
I moved your post to this existing topic, as there are already a number of existing threads addressing the topic you started
Thank you!
Probably the Sanwald’s Amazon Ant Polyergus sanwaldi https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/172434174
It’s one of only 17 observations on iNat and the furthest inland record I am aware of for this species in any dataset (most records are along the coast)
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I forgot that I had a shark observation that is potentially an undescribed species.
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Might not be the rarest I’ve ever seen, but certainly up there-- last I checked, there are 14 observations for a red-and-white antpitta (Grallaria erythroleuca), and three of them are my friends and I all reporting the same bird we all saw on a hike.
We were on a field course in the Peruvian Andes-Amazon at the beginning of 2024, and it was a life changing experience, to say the least. I can’t overstate how lucky I was to be able to be there, and I’d give anything to go back.
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I’m pretty sure somewhere along this very long post thread this has been already mentioned, but if you want a quick way to see how rare your observations are to the rest of the iNat observers, use:
https://elias.pschernig.com/wildflower/leastobserved.html?user=
Once you’re there, you just enter your user name and hit enter. A list is then generated showing your rarest at the top and descending through the rest.
I actually scrored a ‘one and only’ recently on an observation from 2023. Yes, it pays to be patient with identifiers. Also, I had no idea how rare this one was until the identifiers discovered it.
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I think this is the rarest animal I’ve ever seen. Principe scops-owl. I hiked two hours up a rocky volcano in the dark to see it then two hours back down. When it flew in it was so close I could feel its feathers touch my forehead. It was officially described in 2022 but had been rumored to exist for almost a century.
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Wow! That was worth the hike.
Particularly in the second and third photos in your observation, there’s such a big difference in pupil dilation! I presume one side of its face was catching the flash from your camera and the other wasn’t.
As a Coloradan, this is the only endemic species in Colorado itself I have found (unless you count the brown-capped Rosy-finch as a breeding endemic). The rarest observation I have is the Colorado dune tiger beetle which is only found in Colorado, more specifically in one national park, Great Sand Dunes National park in the south of the state. This species only has 37 obs
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Scarlet Snake probably. They are already elusive where I am and I found one my first time roadcruising. It was really beautiful. I’ve found a few rare wasps such as Large Female Eastern Velvet Ants, A Tarantula Hawk Wasp, and a male and female Psuedomethoca Scimillima. I have the first document or video of the Psuedomethoca Scimillima sting I could find.
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That is insanely cool.