Many iNaturalist users fall under two main categories in terms of observing and identifying: Specialists, and Generalists. Specialists identify or observe mainly one or two taxa: they could be anywhere from as broad as arachnids to a specific genus or species. Generalists on the other hand identify many species, across phyla and classes.
So, I’m curious: what’s a taxon that’s caught your attention that you aren’t really an expert in? Many of us have a deep passion for a particular taxon, but what about the other groups that might spark our curiosity?
It could be a taxon that you’ve recently seen or learned about, or maybe something you’ve been observing for years that you’ve started to gain an appreciation for.
I’ll start with leafmines. I don’t know much about them I find them captivating. They’re small marks on leaves made by specific larva (certain moths, flies, sawflies, and beetles) that prefer certain plant species. For me, it’s always exciting to see leafmines on plant species I haven’t seen them on before.
So, what’s a taxon that interests you that you don’t know all to much about?
I’m very far from being an expert in any taxon but for the past couple of years I’ve been interested in observing and identifying spiders here in South Korea. (#2 in observations, #2 in species observed, #1 in identifications)
Spotting an unfamiliar-looking spider is one of the fastest ways to get me to stop what I’m doing, as I’ll immediately want to check it out. I always feel happy when I end up with spider photos that look decent, as I’m still not very good at taking macro photos either. Identifying is still a struggle as my guidebook is in Korean and the vocabulary is typically unfamiliar and some doesn’t translate as clearly into English.
Recently, I’ve also found myself growing interested in millipedes, though I know even less about them than I do about spiders.
For me it’s limpits, harvestmen, and slime molds. They’re things that I don’t see everyday but have observed multiple times and I think they’re so interesting. Lots of colors I don’t usually see in nature.
Disclaimer: I have Serpentes, Sphingidae, and Vespidae listed under “Favorite Taxa” because I find these groups fascinating. However, I am not knowledgeable about identification within these groups beyond a handful of species.
Definitely bees. I do lots of native plant gardening (plants are my specialty) in hopes of attracting bees, but when they do show up (especially sweat bees), I don’t really have a microscope to identify them with. I’ve still been able to identify a lot of the bees or at least narrow it down to a couple of species.
Flying fish!! There is disappointingly little info on them, which is a shame as they are a gorgeous family. One of my goals this year is to learn how to ID them better, as right now there is really only one prolific IDer of them, and he is an elasmobranch specialist.
to follow up, I don’t mean to imply that by being an elasmobranch specialist he doesn’t know about flying fish, just to say that he already has a lot on his IDing plate. Much love to him for all he does
I am not very good at it, but I do love going out and looking for different bees, wasps and flies. Especially in the fall when the goldenrod and asters are in bloom, but I still am not any good at IDing them. I just find them so cool to watch though!
