Another great turnout of monitors had fun observing five species of frogs and toads at Berry Springs Preserve on the 50th anniversary of the first manned landing on the moon. The evening started out with a large beetle found in the women's restroom - Mike submitted a picture of it to iNat, and it was identified as a Hardwood Stump Borer. We walked down to the middle slough springhead, then went over the footbridge to the boardwalk, hung out around the fishing deck in the main pond for a while, and returned to the parking lot along the slough by the playground. Blanchard's Cricket Frogs got up to their normal max Call Index of 3. We saw one female American Bullfrog (CI = 0) floating on top of an algal mat at the footbridge. Just like last month, Green Tree Frogs (CI = 3) were calling everywhere and we were able to catch one at the edge of the main pond. One young Gulf Coast Toad (CI = 0) was photographed near the small pavilion, but the big one in the water dish by the restroom escaped into a crack in the wall before anyone could take a photo. However, the highlight of the evening was hearing all of the Rio Grande Leopard Frogs again, eventually calling at CI = 3. It might have been because we stayed for two full hours after sunset instead of the usual one hour, but it was wonderful !! We were also lucky enough to get photos of a young one that was in the grass by the edge of the main pond.
The monitoring period was 20:30 - 22:30.
Participants were Kathy, Amy & Mike & Jimmy (welcome !), Diane, Mike, Hunter, Mary Ann (welcome back !) & Tobin (welcome !), Lynne, and Christie.
Environmental conditions at the middle slough springhead at sunset:
- Air temperature = 84.2 deg F
- Water temperature = 78 deg F
- Sky = No/few clouds
- Water level = Average
- Relative humidity = 43 %

A smaller monarch population in the western United States that migrates between California and the Pacific Northwest is disappearing even faster, dropping from 1.2 million in the 1990s to just 30,000 last year -- a 98 percent drop.

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2019/07/22/Scientists-scramble-to-learn-why-monarch-butterflies-are-dying-so-quickly/6961563481223/

Acorn Woodpeckers have been described as a "troupe of wide-eyed clowns" for their appearance and behavior. These birds are mostly glossy black, with cream-colored markings on their faces and a bright red cap. Males and females can be distinguished by the males' larger reddish patch, which extends forward until it touches the cream-colored band on their face. In females, the red marking does not touch the lighter band.

http://www.tehachapinews.com/lifestyle/pen-in-hand-acorn-woodpeckers-noisy-entertaining-birds-of-the/article_936d7eea-aca8-11e9-9633-b3493e3608ac.amp.html

Two closely related species of Calochortus occur in the mountains of California and southern Oregon; C. nudus in the Klamath Range/Mt Shasta area and C. minimus in the Sierra Nevada from Lake Tahoe southward. In between the areas where the species occur in their pure form is a large region covered by intermediate types which are believed to be derived from hybridization and introgression with the parent species.

Marion Ownbey described the situation in his 1940 Monograph of the Genus Calochortus (https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/16163357). He first described C. minimus in this paper, and chose to assign the intermediate forms to C. nudus:

In the vicinity of Mount Shasta, C. nudus is uniform, but south of the Pit River it occurs in pure stand with decreasing frequency as one passes southward. In eastern Eldorado County and southward, only the closely related C. minimus occurs. Between the two geographically, there is a bewildering assortment of plants showing independent recombination of the various morphological characters which separate these two species. Such a population can be explained only as the result of long-continued hybridization and probably repeated back-crossing, particularly with C. nudus. Pure C. minimus does not seem to occur within the area, so the entire population is here referred to C. nudus. It should be pointed out, however, that occasional specimens are so close to C. minimus that they can be distinguished only by geographical criteria.

From the evidence at hand, it appears that at one time these species were separated by a geographical barrier which allowed evolution to proceed in different directions on either side. As a result there was developed a robust northern race, with larger flowers, rounded petals, taller stems, proportionately shorter and broader basal leaves, and erect fruits which are acute at both ends. It is fortunate that this race has persisted in a nearly pure state in the Mount Shasta Region, and at numerous stations in the northern Sierra Nevada.

The southern race is smaller in all respects, the petals acute, the stems very short, the basal leaves greatly exceeding the inflorescences, the fruits obtuse and nodding on slender, strongly deflexed pedicels. This race now occupies the southern Sierra Nevada, from eastern Eldorado County southward to Tulare County, in a practically pure condition. The combinations of morphological criteria which separate the southern from the northern race are certainly of specific value. It is only when the intervening population is considered that there is any possibility of another interpretation.

Today the barrier which once separated these two species has disappeared, and they have come together again. Since they were presumably derived from the same stock, the hybrids are fertile and interbreed both among themselves and with both parent species. The result should be a population possessing the characters of both parents, but in different combinations. This is exactly what we find. It is impossible to separate such a population completely into two, or even a dozen, categories, yet the morphological differences between C. nudus and C. minimus do not permit their inclusion within a single species. Even if such an assignment were possible, it would be undesirable, as it would obscure their probable genetic relationships.

Regional floras have followed Ownbey, for example "A Flora of Lassen Volcanic National Park, California" (Gilllett et al, 1995) lists only C. nudus as occurring in the park.

Fifty years later Ness et al (1990) carried out additional studies which supported the hypothesis that the intermediate forms in the northern Sierra result from hybridization. Their research suggested that the hybrids are no more closely related to C. nudus than to C. minimus. (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/230852138_An_Examination_of_Polyploidy_and_Putative_Introgression_in_Calochortus_Subsection_Nudi_Liliaceae)

Patterson and Givnish (2003) conducted DNA analysis to study evolution of Calochortus. Although they do not specifically discuss C. nudus and C. minimus, their analysis indicates that these two are not sister taxa; that is, each is more closely related to other species of Calochortus that they are to each other. (https://courses.botany.wisc.edu/botany_940/15Stebbins/chapter%206%20papers/Patterson%202004%20New%20Phytologist.pdf)

Today, we start the fifth week of the iNaturalist World Tour. This week will take us to Japan in Asia, three countries in Latin America (Bolivia, Panama, and Peru), two in Europe (Czech Republic and Denmark), and Madagascar in Africa.

We start in Japan. @harumkoh is another example of a super observer-identifier who tops both the observer and identifier leaderboards in Japan. Most of their observations are around the Tokyo region. This is the center of activity for most of the top observers such as @belvedere04 @jeanvaljean @norio_nomura @tokue and @keitawatanabe. Outliers include @harazaki on Yakushima Island, @kuroshio near Fukuoka and @pcatlin around Kobi and Kochi - all south of the Tokyo area.

iNaturalist has been growing rapidly in Japan the last two years. There are April peaks that show the effect of City Nature Challenge Tokyo organized by @kobori and @souke. Many thanks to @sudachi and others for their hard work on Japanese translations.

As mentioned above, @harumkoh is the top identifier in addition to being the to observer. @housecrows and @maractwin are leading for plants and fish IDs. Many thanks to other top identifiers such as @yajapin @rajibmaulick @sudachi and @tokue.

What can we do to improve iNaturalist in Japan? Please share your thoughts below or on this forum thread

@harumkoh @harazaki @belvedere04 @jeanvaljean @kuroshio @housecrows @maractwin @yajapin @rajibmaulick @sudachi

We’ll be back tomorrow with Bolivia!

Congratulations! You all have surpassed 1,000 observations in this project, adding significantly to the understanding FWC has about species distribution within Everglades WMA. There are many species, however, waiting to be discovered there, so keep the observations coming! We can't wait to see what you're able to uncover.

Thanks for all of your observations.

Pete Kleinhenz

I was pleasantly surprised to observe a couple of these Holcocephala calva in the front garden this morning while I was working outside. I saw two perched on the top of a tall spent lily near our front door. I now have two species of this genus present in the yard, as the H. abdominalis/fusca are still present in the garden patch near the driveway.

First night of moth week was so hot and sultry that it was difficult to be outside at the lightsheet, even at 10:00 pm. But I persevered for a while and got a few species, including a new one, the Gymnandrosoma, though it was a bit worn. The European Hornets are making things difficult, so I catch them in a jar as they are so disruptive.

Hey everyone!

Thanks for all your great observations! We are now up to 1,440 Research Grade species in Bedford! That's incredible, to me. I know we can confirm thousands more, so if you are up for it, please use the Identify tool on the iNaturalist website: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?project_id=39472

But the real reason for this post is to announce our first-ever Biodiversity of Bedford event on Sunday, September 29th from 12:30pm-3pm. We're going to do it in our barn in Bedford Village, located at 50 Pound Ridge Road. Parking will be available in the Town Parking Lot behind the Presbyterian Church! Should be plenty of parking available as the service ends at 12pm noon. We'll have food and drinks for everyone - we are currently seeking a partner restaurant to help cater the event. (50 people max)

We'll have some presentations about iNaturalists and lots of experts (like you all!) on hand to help with training to use iNaturalist for observations and identifications. The goal of the event is to introduce the residents of Bedford to the amazing living organisms that surround them, with the hope of developing people into naturalists.

There will be a City Nature Challenge (https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2020) hosted by iNaturalist during Earth Day weekend (April 25,26, 2020), and we'd like to register Westchester County to participate.

I'll be posting something weekly to lead up to our September event, including more details on schedule and attendees. But for now we wanted you all to SAVE THE DATE!

Best,
Murray (@swampchicken) & Filippine (@filippine)

This week’s pick for OOTW is this Clouded Sulphur, observed by @betcrooks: https://inaturalist.ca/observations/28830881

One thing I love about this observation – and most others made by Laurie (aka @betcrooks) – is the detailed field notes that she provides. These records of behaviour, plant associations, observation techniques, etc. can be very useful to both professional and citizen scientists. And they help build the sense of community in our Butterfly Blitz project as well as for iNaturalist in general.

Laurie says that she saw this butterfly while out walking last week, and immediately took a picture:

“I secretly hope to observe an 'accidental' rare Sulphur one day so I try for clear photos of each one I encounter.

“I approached the butterfly slowly, stopping to take more photos every few yards. It moved a few times but I was able to get a reasonably clear view of the underside of the wings before it flew up to challenge a Cabbage White. I have some poor photos of it in flight, too. Top views of Sulphurs can be helpful to sort the Orange Sulphurs from the Cloudeds.

“This was my first Clouded Sulphur of the year which is quite surprising to me. It seems to be a poor year for the over-wintering resident butterflies but a good year for migrants and irruptants. I've seen more Monarchs than Cabbage Whites this year!”

It’s not just Laurie - despite being a very common butterfly in our area, this is the only observation of the Clouded Sulphur to date in the 2019 Butterfly Blitz. It is also one of only 10 observations of this species on iNaturalist for the Credit River Watershed from any year.

It’s still early in the season for the Clouded Sulphur, and the lack of observations from other years may be because people often overlook the common species when photographing butterflies. Another great example of this is the Cabbage White butterfly – over half of the local observations on iNaturalist of this species (14/23) are from this year, even though it is one of the most common species in our area.

To me, this is a great sign that people are getting out there and making observations to add to the Butterfly Blitz. Keep at it – we love seeing all of your finds, even the common species.

And you never know what other exciting things you might see while you’re out there, like this DeKay’s Brownsnake that Laurie saw while out butterflying: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/28969546

yesterday I finished posting my observations from my recent visit to Nova Scotia, and when I finished posting my species total for 2019 was 999! I had been hoping to reach 1000 species before we left there, but that was pretty close. This morning when I first checked iNaturalist, I saw that someone had identified one of my observations to species level. I checked if I had observed that species before, and I hadn't. That brought my total up to 1000 -- Yay!!! I'm curious to see how many I'll find before the end of the year.
Here is a set of search filters that shows how many species I have whenever you are reading this: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?d1=2019-01-01&hrank=species&place_id=any&subview=grid&user_id=alexis_orion&verifiable=any&view=species
Here is the observation that got identified which brought me to 1000: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/29254382

Às vezes vem mais de dois pássaros pra comer e quando o sanhaço do coqueiro e o sanhaço azul vem na mesma hora, dá briga. Ainda não consegui filmar uma briga entre eles mas já vi

Starting out in 2016 with iNaturalist, I was informed that an
"overlooked" species of native Plutella had been recently
described and required dissection or perhaps bar coding
to separate from the introduced species.

Here is the relevant reference ...
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3807746/

I only just noticed that a good many Plutella in Australia have been
identified to species. Other than @graemevc Graeme's material
which I know was bar coded (pers. comm. 2017), I'd like to
know what the basis for the change has been. According to
AFD, the two species are still recognized ...

https://biodiversity.org.au/afd/taxa/Plutella/checklist

however, there has occasionally been a lag in listing with
respect to the literature so I was wondering if I had missed
something.

@dustaway @ianmcmillan @kenharris @dhobern
@hkmoths @imcmaster @tleitch @daniel_heald
@aedmonds @bushbandit @gumnut

For posting comments

WOW!小城 報名表單 https://reurl.cc/RZq3Z

☀7/25 (四) 19:30-21:30 小城的綠色生活，學會辨識生活周遭的植物

☀7/27 (六)
08:00-10:00 獨居蜂的生活
10:00-12:00 iNaturalist 運用 APP 自然資料庫 ! 野外觀察好方便！

☀7/27 (六) 20:00-22:00 「夜生活」好熱鬧，夜間觀察～帶你看見不一樣的生態特色！

☀8/01 (四) 19:30-21:00 認識甲蟲大軍，一起來了解甲蟲生活！

☀8/04 (日)
09:00-11:00 來一趟小城的生態觀察小旅行！
13:00-16:00 來自大地的顏色，手作天然植物染！

☀8/10 (六) 09:00-11:00 小朋友最愛！教你製作昆蟲標本！ 蟬殼大賽宣傳～

☀8/17 (六) 09:00-11:00 夏日的合唱團 – 認識蟬的生活史！

☀8/17 (六) 14:00-16:00 蟬的觀察紀錄及蟬殼大賽頒獎！

По состоянию проекта "Флора России" на утро 22 июля 2019 года Калужская область занимает 18 место!
За предыдущие несколько дней опередили Ростовскую, Самарскую и Воронежскую области.
На сегодняшний день в Калужской области сделано ровно 1999 подтвержденных находок сосудистых растений 464 видов. Такого результата помогли добиться сборы натуралиста @sansan_94 Alexander Malyutkin в, а также наш (@dryomys, @max_carabus) краткий выезд в национальный парк "Угра" с экскурсиями по лесам и лугам в окрестностях деревни Палатки.
Справедливости ради надо отметить, что в 5 областях с меньшим объемом находок число видов больше:
473 в Тульской области - 1540 находок, в основном за счёт сборов Алексея Серёгина @apseregin
504 в Иркутской области - 1518 находок, лидер - Сергей Мирвода @smsergey
575 в Курской области - 1202 находки, лидер - @alex_pol_64
651 в Ростовской области - 1812 находок, в основном за счёт работы профессионального флориста Сергея Майорова @phlomis_2019
и 671 в Воронежской области 1942 находки, здесь прошлись уже два профессионала - @apseregin и @phlomis_2019

A BioBlitz is a citizen science event where scientists and naturalists work with the community to explore their local area with the aim of recording as many species as possible.

A BioBlitz will be held at Poppethead Park, Kitchener on Sunday, 8 September 2019. The event will include a spotlighting event on the Saturday night (7th September), as well as a number of interesting walks and activities on the Sunday. Events will cater for everyone including people with a general interest in the bush wanting to know a little more, to the keen naturalist wanting to extend their knowledge.

Due to the significance of the Cessnock area for conservation, we are fortunate to attract some highly skilled ecologists and botanists to this event including staff from the University of Newcastle with doctorates in the field.

The children have not been forgotten! We have a skilled children’s educator who will run a special kids program on the day, guaranteed to have a smile stuck on the kid’s faces as they learn and get active outside. There is no need to book for the kids program.

You can register in advance here:
https://cessnockbioblitz2019.eventbrite.com.au.

I'm going to be in the Bay Area starting tomorrow (oops, I should have made this post earlier), with the following days at stake:

Monday 22nd -- afternoon only(?) arriving around 11am, meeting @robberfly.
Tuesday 23rd -- cicada stuff with @easmeds
Wednesday 24th -- ??

25th-29th -- butterfly bonanza with @robberfly et. al.

July 30th -- Returning to the Bay Area from butterfly bonanza, not sure when we will arrive.
July 31st -- ??
August 1st -- ??
August 2nd -- early am tidepool stuff with @kestrel and others, late am to pm = ???
August 3rd -- I have the day spare until I fly out at 7pm.

So if anyone wants to arrange a meetup or some such, let me know. I think most of my wanted plants are crispy beyond identification at this time of year, but there ought to be a lot of other stuff around. Things I am interested in seeing:

•cool plants, bonus if they are rare and endemic to ridiculously tiny habitats, or even rad weeds that are not found anywhere else in the state.
•cool bugs, including night stuff if anyone has blacklighting/UV equipment.
•reptiles? amphibians? you have more than one salamander up there right?
•everything else??? with priority on cool stuff, if you couldn't tell.

@sea-kangaroo @dpom @gyrrlfalcon @alexis_amphibian @merav @catchang @mazer @leslie_flint @jmaughn @tiwane @kueda @damontighe @anudibranchmom @graysquirrel @dgreenberger
Feel free to add anyone else I forgot.

Our Observation of the Week is this Gasteracantha diardi spider, seen in Malaysia by @amila_sumanapala!

Amila Sumanapala first delved into bird watching when he was thirteen years of age and was growing up in Sri Lanka. “By late teens my interest had broadened to include a wide range of faunal taxa,” he says, “[and] I joined several volunteer nature organizations in the country such as the Field Ornithology Group of Sri Lanka, Young Biologists' Association of Sri Lanka and Butterfly Conservation Society of Sri Lanka and developed my capacity to become a researcher and a conservationist.” He is now a postgraduate researcher at the University of Colombo.

It was his original interest in birds that brought Amila and some friends to Malaysia, where they attended the Fraser's Hill International Bird Race. “My friend Kasun first observed the spider and showed it to me,” he recalls. “We recognized it to be a Gasteracantha species but it was different from what we have observed previously. So we photographed it hoping that we would be able to identify it later and we could do that thanks to INaturalist.”

Also known as spiny orbweavers, memebers of the genus Gasteracantha are found around the world as far north as the Korean Peninsula all the way to the southern tip of Africa. Gasteracantha diardi range through much of the islands of southeast Asia, and like other members of their genus, only the females are large and have spiked abdomens. Despite their diminutive size, Gasteracantha spiders spin quite large orb webs, and they decorate them with tufts of silk. It is presumed these tufts make the web easier for birds and other large animals to see and thus avoid, saving the spider from the onerous task of fixing a damaged web.

While Amila photographed a spider while on a trip where he looked for birds, his main area of interest is actually Odonata, or the dragonflies and damselflies. In about 2009 he developed an interest in them, and tells me 

Most of my colleagues at that time did not know much about odonates, thus I started observing them by myself and studying them in detail using the available literature. This has now become the main interest in my life as a biologist and I am conducting various research on their taxonomy, ecology and biogeography. I also authored a field guide to the dragonflies and damselflies of Sri Lanka in 2017. My postgraduate work is also on the damselflies of Sri Lanka.

While he joined iNat in 2014, after hearing about it at the Student Conference in Conservation Science, Bangaluru, Amila (above, doing field work in Sri Lanka) says he’s only been using it regularly for about the last four months, “currently trying to document the insects I observe around the country using photographs and understanding their distribution patterns. 

I started using INat to get identification support on the insects and other invertebrates I observe and photograph during my field work and it has been a great support in my work thanks to all the identifiers in the community. This has motivated me to record more and more biodiversity every time I'm out in the field and share it on iNat. I also contribute as an identifier, especially for Odonata and other major insect groups observed in Sri Lanka and India.

- by Tony Iwane. Some quotes have been lightly edited for clarity and flow.

---

- Check out this array of Gasteracantha species!

- Here’s a photo of a male Gasteracantha cancriformis. Note the lack of spikes.

- You can watch a Gasteracantha finish here web here. Note the little tufts of silk on the spokes.

We are getting ready to launch Citizen Science 2019.

You can learn more about this project including the coordinates of the photopoints we are looking to take by attending our Family Fun day on the 28th July 2019. Details can be found here to register: https://www.pestfreekaipatiki.org.nz/citizen-science-month.

Keep an eye on this space for the list of photopoints we want you to geo-locate and take. :)

Check out the link
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12248908

By being observant, two people in Auckland recently discovered one of the worlds worst weeds growing in a North Shore neighbourhood. A plant that if left unmanaged could strangle our native forests. This is the first time this plant has ever been recorded in New Zealand. Hopefully it is the only one! Time and careful searching will tell.
Early intervention is key. In an ideal world these species would never make it past our airport biosecurity systems, but detecting every tiny seed on a visitors socks is like mission impossible.
With iNaturalist, being observant of our neighbourhoods is easy. Using iNaturalist, that discovery of the Himalayan wineberry bramble could have been made anyone, even you. You don't need to be a professional, you just need to take the photo, make your best guess and upload your observation. Thanks to the app, the professionals are right there at your fingertips.
So what might be in your neighbourhood? The worlds worst weed? I hope not! But it is possible, and finding it ASAP is key.
Alternatively you might discovery a new native species, or a species that was thought to have gone extinct.
Will you accept the challenge?

Check out the link
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12248908

On Saturday morning only three people joined me for the monthly group walk on Hill Country Conservancy's Nalle Bunny Run wildlife preserve in west Austin. It's a shame we've been getting low attendance on these walks. Despite high summer temperatures later in the day, when we start these walks at 8 AM it's relatively cool. A nice breeze and some cloud cover helped as well. And it was a birdy morning! We ended up finding 27 species of birds and had some fun observations of other animals as well.

We started downhill and started hearing a Painted Bunting singing. The bunting flew west but as we stood there a pair of Ladder-backed Woodpeckers flew in and landed on a dead tree nearby. After getting good looks at them they flew south almost right over our heads. We turned onto the path looping through the west part of the preserve when we saw a few Blue-gray Gnatcathers, and further down the trail we started hearing the Painted Bunting nearby. I played a Painted Bunting song on my iPhone a couple times and the bird flew in right over us to try and find its competitor. We all got good looks at this colorful bird before it lost interest and flew further west. A bit further down the trail we found two or three juvenile Painted Buntings foraging near the ground. It's likely that these were all siblings and the singing male was there father. Here's a juvenile bird I had seen before the group arrived which was probably one of the birds the group saw:

The theme of juvenile birds continued when we found two Red-eyed Vireos in the deciduous woods habitat area. One was a juvenile bird following and constantly begging from its parent. Twice I saw it get fed high in the canopy. In this same area we were treated to a distant look at a Rock Squirrel, a western species that doesn't occur much further east than Austin, and is much less common to see then our Fox Squirrels:

Down on the sandy prairie we saw another juvenile bird, this Eastern Bluebird by itself. We didn't see its parents:

Dragonflies were out, and we were treated to some nice close looks at some, like this bright red male Neon Skimmer which was defending its territory just downhill from the natural spring on the preserve:

As the morning progressed the sound of cicadas became more and more prevalent, until it was nearly constant. The only one we actually saw was this big guy, near the end of our hike. It has been identified by the iNaturalist community so far as a Texas Dog-day Cicada:

See the attached observations for a few more species we saw.

The same photos are on Flickr here.

And here is our complete eBird list.

Please see my Blog today:
https://beltedkingfisher.blog/2019/07/21/pandora-moth-date-night/

We installed a new Bat House on our property on July 19, 2019. We live on Whitewater Lake here in Azilda (Northern Ontario). I didn't know about bats becoming endangered until I got a letter in the mail letting us know they are observing our lake this year. I donated some money and then I got emails from the Canadian Wildlife Federation and they are full of wildlife information and I stumbled upon the bats so I went out and purchased one. I'm so excited and I sure hope that it attracts bats soon.

We're in the final stretch! Thanks so much for all your submitted observations thus far. If you have records from during the 9-day period that you don't have a time to submit by today, you can still submit after the survey time. Thank you for your help!!

We're in the final stretch! Thanks so much for all your submitted observations thus far. If you have records from during the 9-day period that you don't have a time to submit by today, you can still submit after the survey time. Thank you for your help!!

We're in Switzerland for the last day of Week 4 of the iNaturalist World Tour. Here, @jasonrgrant and @murielbendel, both botanists, stand out as top observers and top identifiers. Other top observers include @roby, @nicz, @ivanomarques, and @vaudoiseaux.

iNaturalist started growing in Switzerland in 2016. This coincides with when @jharlin at the Alpine Institute has used iNaturalist in several classes and events. The number of observations per month has ramped up in the last two years.

As mentioned above, botanists @jasonrgrant and @murielbendel are not only the top observers in Switzerland but also the top identifiers. @murielbendel leads in plant identifications. As in many European countries, @borisb leads in insect IDs and @ldacosta leads in bird IDs. Many thanks to other top IDers from Switzerland such as @horticultix, @arnaudbrahier, and @amc.

What can we do to get more people using iNaturalist in Switzerland? Please share your thoughts below or on this forum thread

@jasonrgrant @murielbendel @roby @nicz @ivanomarques @vaudoiseaux @horticultix @arnaudbrahier @ldacosta @amc

We’ll be back tomorrow with Japan!

Having just found the app for the iPhone I joined the iNaturalist and am finding it very usefull on the first day having identified 5 plants in my garden that I needed to identify by name, I only knew of 2 of them, being rapeseed and common lavender. I did not know their latin names so learning done all around. I am finding the App very accurate, it is slow but I imagine the number of records it is checking will account for that. I am very impressed and looking forward to learning more and finding out a whole lot more. I did not realize I must be using the App for 24 hours before publishing but understand and agree with the rule. No problem. Going to look forward to using this again.

Si chiama coevoluzione il nome che diamo alla miriade di collegamenti tra noi e le altre creature di questo pianeta. Un esempio è il gigaro, Arum italicum, una piantina molto comune in Italia e anche lungo i sentieri del Parco della Rimembranza di Cesena. All'interno del suo fiore c'è un sistema per "intrappolare" le mosche (a volte qualche coleottero) che si occuperanno dell'impollinazione. Chiuso in questa trappola floreale il malcapitato gira e gira, impollinando per bene. Dopo qualche giorno, il fiore si apre e l'imprigionato può tornare in libertà. La coevoluzione, insieme alla selezione naturale e alla varietà della vita, ci spiegano quasi tutto sui viventi, "quasi" tutto, resta una parte di mistero e di bellezza tutta da scoprire ...
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/checklist-parco-delle-rimembranze-di-cesena
#cesenascienza

▼ タイワンウチワヤンマ (*1a) [台湾団扇蜻蜓] (*2)
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粗鉤春蜓 　Ictinogomphus rapax (Rambur, 1842) (*3、*4)
霸王葉春蜓(港)、小团扇春蜓 (中)　Ictinogomphus pertinax (Selys, 1854)
Common Flangetail

第一隻就有不少歧見了。在台灣被稱為「粗鉤春蜓」其學名為 I. rapax，但是日本的「台湾団扇蜻蜓」是 I. pertinax.

在網路上可以找到渡辺賢一關於紫紅蜻蜓ベニトンボ、橙斑蜻蜓アオビタイトンボ、台湾団扇蜻蜓(粗鉤春蜓)タイワンウチワヤンマ向北擴張的時程整理(*5a)，其中前兩隻因為是較後期才開始北移，因此紀錄較為完備，其推進的時程分別可以追溯到從 1980 年代由(日本的)西南諸島開始北遷的。至於「台湾団扇蜻蜓」雖於1950 年頃，並沒有在九州與四國南部發生(*5b)，但是到了 1970 年左右，便已經到了九州北部了。即便沒有更早的記錄，但我們可以合理推論：「台湾団扇蜻蜓」遷徙的模式同紫紅和橙斑蜻蜓，而這三種都是由台灣向西南諸島，然後向北擴張遷徙的。

在香港的名錄中(*6a)，收錄了「霸王葉春蜓」，長得和台灣的粗鉤很像的蜓，但是學名也和日本的「台湾団扇蜻蜓」一樣 I. pertinax。此外，中国海南島的「霸王叶春蜓」(*7) 是 I. pertinax，越南北部 (*8) 也有 I. pertinax ，而新加坡「類似」的蜓則是 I. decoratus (*9)。
　
嚴格講起來，這隻日本名為「台湾団扇蜻蜓」的蜓，在台灣並不存在。因為在日本的是 I. pertinax，台灣 I. rapax。那麼 Ictinogomphus rapax (Rambur, 1842) 和 Ictinogomphus pertinax (Selys, 1854) 可能的關係是甚麼呢？

1. 同種異名。從北越、海南、香港、台灣到日本都是同種，日本似乎也認為台湾団扇蜻蜓是從西南諸島(台灣)北擴的，所以這一帶都是同一種很合理。
2. 不同種。那麼台灣產的應屬 I. rapax 抑或是 I. pertinax?
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▼ タイワンコヤマトンボ [台湾小山蜻蛉]
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Macromia clio Ris, 1916
海神弓蜓 / 海神大伪蜻(中)

「臺灣蜻蛉目昆蟲檢索圖鑑」(林斯正, 楊平世 2016) (*4) 說這是分布廣泛且常見的物種。而青木先生的網站 (*1) 上 "タイワンコヤマトンボ Macromia clio Ris, 1916" 沒有任何內容，所以這「台灣」之名，當是實至名歸。

另一個有著精美圖片的蜻蜓網站「トンボフィールド観察記」(*10)，對這隻タイワンコヤマトンボ[台湾小山蜻蛉] 的敘述說它只發生在西表島(いりおもてじま)，沒有圖片，也沒有其他任何描述。但是在網路上 Google "タイワンコヤマ"，可以找到一些在西表島記錄到這隻蜓的網頁。(*11)

分布：西表島。国外では、台湾・中国南部・ベトナムに生息する。
生息環境：河川中流域
発生サイクル：2年1世代型 (*12)

「台湾小山蜻蛉」(海神弓蜓) 是兩年一世代，也就是 semivoltine，所以在冬季寒冷的日本本土應該很難生存。

另外，台日對這隻蜓所屬的科(family)，分類也不同。台灣是歸在「弓蜓科 Family Corduliidae」(*13)，但是日本是 Family Macromiidae ヤマトンボ科 [山蜻蛉科] ( Genus Macromia コヤマトンボ属 [小山蜻蛉属] ) ；日本分類法將Genus Macromia 歸在Family Macromiidae 與香港自然探索學會(*6b)、新加坡 Ngiam and Cheong, 2016 (*9) 同。而台灣 TaiEOL, TaiBNET， 林斯正 & 楊平世 2016 (*4), 曹美華 2005 (*3) 的分類法 (歸在Family Corduliidae) 與REEL & Zhang, 2015 (*7) 相同。
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▼ タイワンシオヤトンボ　[台湾塩屋蜻蛉]
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Orthetrum internum McLachlan, 1894 (*1)
扶桑蜻蜓 Orthetrum japonicum internum McLachlan, 1894 (*3, *4)

這是命名上最有趣的一隻蜻蜓了！日本人叫它「台湾塩屋蜻蛉」，而台灣人叫它「扶桑(日本)蜻蜓」。

學名上也有所不同，台灣認為它是 Orthetrum japonicum 的亞種(TaiEOL, TaiBNET *14)，但是從「日本のトンボ」（2012：文一総合出版 *15）出版後，日本人就把它升格為 O. internum。中国今年出版的「中国蜻蜓大图鉴」(张浩淼 2019) (*16)，也是將這隻蜻蜓列為 O. internum。

不管這隻蜻蜓是日本的，還是台灣的，它的最大發生地是中国。日本之所以會將他命名為台灣，可能是當初研究時，樣本是採集自台灣(而當時台灣也是日本的領土) (*17)。它在日本分布範圍很小，只在一個日、韓兩國之間的對馬島(対馬 つしま，屬長崎縣對馬市；該島東側的海域為對馬海峽、西側則為釜山海峽)。

至於台灣會把它命名為扶桑蜻蜓，應該是根據他的學名 O. japonicum internum 來的吧！這也許是台灣學界遲遲不肯把它「升格」的原因之一？中国不喜歡日本，境內的生物 O. japonicum internum，可以改成 O. internum，所以很快就改了。但這純屬個人臆測。
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▼ タイワンシオカラトンボ [台湾塩辛蜻蛉]
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Orthetrum glaucum (Brauer, 1865)　
金黃蜻蜓 / 黑尾灰蜻(港)

灰蜻屬，Genus Orthetrum 日語便稱作「シオカラトンボ属」。「白刃蜻蜓」シオカラトンボ(Orthetrum albistylum speciosum)是日本「灰蜻屬」的代表，是日本最常見的灰色蜻蜓了，iNat 的記錄數量也說明的這一點。所以把這隻灰蜻屬的蜓 O. glaucum 稱為「台湾塩辛蜻蛉」，當是台灣灰蜻屬的代表了。

從 iNat 上的統計看來，在台灣灰色蜻蜓中，金黃蜻蜓這被觀察記錄最多的了。(雖然 Orthetrum 最多記錄的是 O. pruinosum，但是畢竟那是一隻「紅」蜻蜓，一方面比較容易被觀察到：另一方面，也比較討喜，人們比較會拍紅蜻蜓。如果認真觀察並統計數量，也許「金黃蜻蜓」數量上會比較多，我個人的經驗感覺上是如此。)
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[ Reference ]
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1. 青木典司「神戸のトンボ」網站 http://odonata.jp/03imago/index.html 本文中所引用的日本名皆取自該網站。

2. 所有日文名稱的漢字是我自己推敲的，不是標準寫法，也可能不對。

3. 曹美華，2005，「 臺灣120種蜻蜓圖鑑」，財團法人台北市野鳥協會出版, Jan. 2005。
「台灣蜻蜓」網站 http://taiwandragonfly.blogspot.com/

4. 林斯正、楊平世，2016，「臺灣蜻蛉目昆蟲檢索圖鑑」 / 特有生物保育中心出版2016.12.01

5a. 渡辺賢一, 2012. ベニトンボ，アオビタイトンボおよびタイワンウチワヤンマの分布北上。
http://www.odonata.ne.jp/trivia/northward.html

5b. タイワンウチワヤンマは 1950 年頃までは、 九州と四国の南部にしか分布していませんでしたが、1970 年に九州北部、1990 年に紀伊半島南部、2010 年には神奈川県まで分布を拡大しています。

6a. 香港自然探索學會「香港蜻蜓名錄 (2019 v.5.8)」 http://hkdragonflies.blogspot.com
6b. Macromiidae Needham, 1903 大偽蜻科 http://hkdragonflies.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_43.html

7. 韦庚武 (Graham REEL)、张浩淼, 2015:「 蜻蟌之地 海南蜻蜓图鉴」 / 中国林業出版社 2015.09.01

8. Natalia von Ellenrieder, Martin Hauser, Stephen D. Gaimari1 and Thai H. Pham, 2015, First records of Macromia katae (Macromiidae) and Indothemis carnatica (Libellulidae) from Vietnam (Insecta: Odonata) / Check List 11(1):1-13

9. Robin Wen Jiang Ngiam and Loong Fah Cheong, 2016, "The dragonflies of Singapore: An updated checklist" NATURE IN SINGAPORE 2016 9: 149–163, 8 September 2016 © National University of Singapore. (此份報告所附名錄中的學名有不少拼字錯誤 clerical error。)

10. 「トンボフィールド観察記」網站：http://tombozukan.net/zukanezo.htm

11. 在西表島記錄到「海神弓蜓」Macromia clio Ris, 1916 的網頁：
http://aeschna.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-158.html
https://mehina.exblog.jp/29606030/

12. http://aeschna.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-158.html

13. Macromia clio Ris, 1916 海神弓蜓，台灣分類上屬於 Family Corduliidae 弓蜓科
http://taibnet.sinica.edu.tw/chi/taibnet_species_detail.php?name_code=348247

14. Orthetrum japonicum internum McLachlan, 1894 扶桑蜻蜓 http://taieol.tw/pages/108584
http://taibnet.sinica.edu.tw/chi/taibnet_species_detail.php?name_code=348299

15. 尾園 暁 (著, 写真), 川島 逸郎 (著), 二橋 亮 (著) 「日本のトンボ (ネイチャーガイド) 」 2012.06.29

16. 张浩淼，2019，「中国蜻蜓大图鉴」重庆大学出版社; 2019.4.19.

17. 和名は台湾が日本領だった時代に台湾から記録された標本に基づくものであると思われるが、台湾は本種の一産地にすぎず、本種の分布の中心は中国本土である。http://aeschna.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-90.html