syyskuu 2, 2022

Clarifying the ID confusion on New Zealand *Dendrodoris nigra* complex (Nudibranch-Phylum Mollusca)

Hi all,

Currently, on iNatNZ, two scientific names are used for the Black doris found in NZ.
Based on their colourations they appear to be D. arborescens at some point instead of D. nigra which is the name used more often. However, there has been no reliable genetical studies about them, and also their colourations are known to be extremely variable.

Therefore, on iNaturalist, we should leave all their IDs to the genus level (Dendrodoris sp.) or use the name popular in NZ, *D. nigra*, until a peer-reviewed article about them clarifies which one is the species in NZ , or if both species occur in NZ.

(Although previously D. nigra was registered as species complex on iNat, it is usually best not to use species complex and it is no longer listed)

If you agree with this, please help update IDs of D. arborescens from the Identify page. Since Zach and I have updated IDs to D. nigra or D. sp. , many of the observations are currently needing IDs at genus level. Thank you!

Note: iNaturalist is not a place to discuss taxonomy and iNat only aims to preserve good records of wild organisms, so it is usually best to stick with the most often used names, unless there is evidence which suggests that it is not accurate.

This has been discussed in @fiestykakapo 's journal(url) previously, however most people hasn't updated their IDs yet, which is why I am writing this again.

Please comment below if you have any questions about it or if disagree, and I am happy to discuss about it :-)

Mentioning main identifiers and observers of genus Dendrodoris observed in NZ (random order):

@predomalpha
@fiestykakapo
@clinton
@stephen_thorpe
@hsini_lin
@sam_15
@luca_dt
@simonnicholas
@sascha_schulz

@erwinkoehler
@tangatawhenua

@jpsilva

@shaun-lee

@lloyd_esler
@lisa_bennett

@drmattnimbs

@jordi_nz
@vie
@lcolmer
@emr_auckland

@shaun-lee
@jordi_nz

@mette10
@simonf7532
@chicky67

@jhanwell

@lawrencetroup
@titine
@daan_hoffmann

@jacqui-nz

@albeer23
@beaumasters

@emma_brockes

@indeynz

@oscar_dove

@sam_15

@shanmonkey31

Thanks,

Saryu Mae / Glycymeris

Julkaistu syyskuu 2, 2022 07:43 IP. käyttäjältä invertebratist invertebratist | 3 kommenttia | Jätä kommentti

elokuu 16, 2022

Californian Molluscs Identification project

Hi all. I have recently finished going through and correcting IDs of most of worldwide Cypraeoidea, Triviidae, and Janthina spp., most of New Zealand marine molluscs, some of NZ terrestrial/freshwater molluscs, majority of South Korean marine molluscs and some of Australian marine molluscs.

Now I have started working on American marine molluscs, especially those from California because there are quite many good observations needing corrections or confirmations.

I have tagged top identifiers of Californian Molluscs excluding nudibranchs.Please leave a comment below if you are able to help, so you will be subscribing to this journal (you will be notified when changes are made) which I will keep adding links of observations by commenting which need more IDs.

Because it needs two or more identifiers to agree with corrected ID most of time, I cannot do it alone and your help is quite crucial. You don't need to be an expert of Californian molluscs when adding IDs as long as you think the ID is more accurate (does not mean to be more precise) than the previous one.

I will be adding comments below frequently with links of observations needing IDs. Please add identifications to these observations.
Although I am not very experienced with Californian molluscs, I know about them relatively well from iNat, and I am happy to correct anything if I was wrong.

Also please use this journal or your own journal for any discussion about IDs, so everyone can see what is happening. In general iNat can work very very well when multiple identifiers are working together.

Thank you!

Saryu Mae

@anudibranchmom @thomaseverest @jannvendetti @pliffgrieff @susanhewitt @oceanicadventures @mcduck @jeffgoddard @hsini_lin @hfb @tlawson @kueda @extraneus @kestrel @skatingflamingo @sultana
@predomalpha @mattparr @pileated @jpsilva @phelsumas4life @chloe_and_trevor @gparosenberg (feel free to mention any other marine mollusc identifiers!)

Julkaistu elokuu 16, 2022 08:36 IP. käyttäjältä invertebratist invertebratist | 15 kommenttia | Jätä kommentti

elokuu 2, 2022

Notes for those who edit taxon photos (copy-paste free)

Anyone on Inat can edit taxon photos, but despite that, many taxon pages are using only one blurry photo or mis-identified photos as icons.

・First of all, please only edit taxon photos when you can identify (all the members of) the taxon. This will prevent wrongly identified photos to be used. If you were not very sure but have found a wrong photo, you can mention or message identifiers of the taxon.

・Taxon photos can be edited from the "Curation" button on the right bottom of a taxon page, even if you are not a curator.

・For taxonomic levels higher than species, 8 photos can be shown on the page at the same time, but still , only the first photo will be used as an icon.

・For species or lower taxonomic level, one photo will be shown as the main/icon and four other photos will be shown but smaller. Usually only one photo does not tell enough about a species but still many taxons have only one.

How to choose photos to use
・Make sure to include
(1) as many angles of as many variations as possible.
(2) at least one photo with an indication of size (e.g. scale bar, ruler, hand, foot etc).
(3) as many life stages as possible. For example, most insect taxa pages are missing photos of juvenile, pupa and egg stages
(4) one or two shots showing the habitat of the species can be often very helpful
(5) if people keeps on wrongly identifying the species from out of its distribution, add a picture of its distribution (be sure that it is copyright free), but this is not always recommended.

・Do not include photos of different species in icons for comparison purpose unless you make it obvious that it is a different species, because this will only confuse others.

・When you know a specific observation which you think is worth changing the icon to it, you can search the observation number to find those photos. For example, the italic part of the link is its observation number.
https://inaturalist.nz/observations/128947726
However please never change the icon just because you want your photos to be representing the taxa, unless it represents the taxa more than any other photos existing.

Anyone who purposely play with icons can be reported by flag and they can be banned after discussed with curators.

For your information, I mainly edit taxa photos of worldwide molluscs, taxa from New Zealand and Japan.

Julkaistu elokuu 2, 2022 06:09 IP. käyttäjältä invertebratist invertebratist | 3 kommenttia | Jätä kommentti

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