What is the RAREST animal/plant you have ever seen

[endearingexotics]

That is insanely cool.

[shroomysean]

I don’t really know, as I don’t know how to sort my obvs by rarity. But, interestingly, I think my latest observation is a contender for my rarest find. Neither plant nor animal, but a fungus. Pseudolaccaria pachyphylla. Probably not super rare, just under documented and not studied enough. I love these more obscure mushrooms, they are what keep me intrigued by mycology and nature as a whole. There is always something new to be found! :)

[varanus_enthusiast]

Mine would be this skink(currently undescribed species, lumped into L. whitii). There are probably less than 50 left and they have an extremely limited range, with the researchers I joined counting them we could only find them on one rock face.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/248983952

[songbird82894]

I don’t know, I never really found anything rare, except for a Dark-eyed Junco which isn’t that common where I live. And I am still mad that I was distracted with a random male Northern Cardinal even though they were already appearing a lot there and Juncos aren’t even that common!! The Junco disappeared when I looked there again.

[ra_teo]

My personal favourite is the Carpathian Chamois (subspecies of the Northern Chamois), but my only lifer tagged as ‘endangered’ in my country:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/201237632

As well as this one:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/201385980

[williampaulwhite17]

@endearingexotics

I found one my first time roadcruising

I hate you right now. Just a little.

[austin_ajit]

Mine is a eurasian spoonbill, and indian hoopoe.

[naturespotter]

Are Eurasian spoonbills rare where you live?

[austin_ajit]

Not really. They are migratory birds that aren’t found nearby. I saw them in a bird sanctuary.

[sum_dirt]

a while ago I found a habitat in northish Virginia that had the habitat for trachymyrmex septentrionalis, so I told my entomologist friend and he wanted some specimens. so when I went back to the spot, I saw army ants!(neivamyrmex nigrescens) this was the farthest north observation on the east coast, and second observation in Virginia. I still haven’t seen the colony since then. I didn’t even know they lived in Virginia at that time so it was quite the surprise. but that probably isn’t at rare as the other ant i found in va more recently, aphaenogaster mariae. they only live way high up in old oak trees and i got to find one

[sethshively]

Probably this Procambarus elegans, it is my only instance (so far) of having the first (and so far only) recorded individual of a species on inat. Honorable mention for this gilded river cruiser (Macromia pacifica), one of only three inat observations of the species from Texas

[rykela]

In a local park, I came across a small patch of Northern Oconee Bells, and although I think that they might have been transplanted there a few decades back they’re still very endangered and only four other observations have been noted. I’d love to visit one of the actual remaining native populations sometime but I doubt they’d let a random like me visit.

Last year, I was shown one of the populations of Rose’s Heartleaf by the naturalist who first discovered them.

In terms of truly random, unexpected finds, though… I was surprised to learn that this milkvetch I snapped a quick, blurry picture of while on field camp was a species with less than twenty sightings scattered around Idaho and southern Montana. I saw plenty more just like them in the area, so I’m inclined to think they’re locally abundant but hardly anyone has bothered to catalogue them.

[papernautilus]

I got an id on this one today - the only recorded observation. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s rare, just small, insignificant and overlooked.

https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/465915948/large.jpeg

[nick_nv04]

This Merope tuber, or forcepfly, was attracted to lights in my campsite while camping in the Hiwassee/Ocoee State Park a couple years back. I hadn’t even heard of the species at the time and mistook it for an odd moth before I started going through my photos from the trip. Seems they’re pretty uncommon in collections and have <300 observations here on iNat. I think that’s my rarest sighting so far.

I’ve also been lucky enough to find Echinacea tennesseensis, the Tennessee purple coneflower, growing wild while exploring the cedar glades. There’s a patch of endangered Collinsia verna, spring blue-eyed Mary, growing in the nature sanctuary I volunteer in, but I believe it was purposely introduced there. Still very cool to see.

[maite39]

Genus Cylicomera
I saw this species from the Robber Flies Family that only has 8 global observations. It’s been only found in Argentina and Bolivia.

[austin_ajit]

My rarest obs is the Malabar trogon, with only 244 observations!

[cotinis]

Seen and photographed, this robber fly, Ceraturgus aurulentus. This was perhaps only the second photograph of a living individual, the first being taken in Wisconsin just a few days earlier than mine. The species is widespread in Eastern North America, but observed infrequently. The mystery goes back to the early days. It was described in 1805 and then not seen again for about 90 years. This individual (2013) was the first record in North Carolina since 1958. There have been more sightings since the increase in citizen science observers on BugGuide and iNaturalist.