Projektin Caterpillars of Eastern North America Päiväkirja

I am slowly adding observations to this project, but it's a slow process, as there is no consistent way to distinguish between observations of caterpillars & their adult counterparts other than visual review of observation photos. If you would like to help, you can use this search page to browse potential observations (Lepidoptera observed in the project area & not already added to the project). If you prefer identifying, check out this search page to browse observations we have added to the project that need some ID help or otherwise have not yet reahed "research grade." Thanks!

I originally wanted to make this project Caterpillars of Eastern North America, because caterpillars don't have much respect for political boundaries, and because that is the focus area of the main caterpillar field guide that I use (David Wagner's Caterpillars of Eastern North America). However, there is no iNaturalist Place for Eastern North America, and the system doesn't like it when people add new places that are that big, so I opted for the next best thing, which was the eastern US. However, as you will likely notice if you have a look at the place boundary, the polygon for this place was drawn to include a big chunk of New Brunswick, which, last I checked, is not part of the US. Also, the western limit appears to be drawn roughly at the Mississippi, which, although reasonable, is far short of the western limit that Wagner (and a number of other field guide authors, as well as the professor of my college seminar on the history of the "American West") place at the 100th meridian. I tried to update the place boundary, but this process proved less straightforward than I had hoped (even after I got the nice, tidy, new polygon all prepared), which you can read all about on the iNat message board. In the meantime, I may adjust the project rules somewhat to try to refine the project area, although it may take a while to get that done. While the state-by-state approach recommended on the message board might get us close (and would work well for Sibley's range for the Birds of Eastern North America, except for Texas), it's still going to either over- or under-represent the true focus area that I had in mind (likely the former).

What do you think? Where does the eastern part of the country end, in your mind, from a cultural and/or natural history perspective?

Need to get away from the family for a few minutes during the holidays?
Want to review some caterpillar observations that haven't yet reached Research Grade? Click here!
Want to focus on observations that haven't been identified beyond Order Lepidoptera? Click here!
Your IDs will help our project develop into a valuable resource for caterpillar information & expertise. Thanks!

Purpose of This Post:
Several of us have been working on populating this new project, working through all the Lepidoptera observations for each state in the project area & adding those that show caterpillars. I will keep track of our progress in this post. As you complete a state, add a comment & I will update the list accordingly. It would also be helpful if you would post which states you are working on (or intend to work on), so that we don't duplicate efforts.

Completed:
Alabama - jtuttle (checked by kylejones)
Arkansas - jtuttle (checked by kylejones)
Connecticut - berkshirenaturalist (checked by kylejones)
Delaware - eraskin (checked by kylejones)
Florida - jtuttle (checked by kylejones)
Georgia - jtuttle (checked by kylejones)
Illinois - jtuttle (checked by kylejones)
Indiana - eraskin (checked by kylejones)
Iowa - eraskin (checked by kylejones)
Kansas - eraskin (checked by kylejones)
Kentucky - eraskin (checked by kylejones)
Louisiana - jtuttle (checked by kylejones)
Maine - berkshirenaturalist (checked by kylejones)
Maryland - kylejones
Massachusetts - berkshirenaturalist (checked by kylejones)
Michigan - kylejones (checked by eraskin)
Minnesota - jtuttle (checked by kylejones)
Mississippi - jtuttle (checked by kylejones)
Missouri - jtuttle (checked by kylejones)
Nebraska - eraskin (checked by kylejones)
New Hampshire - berkshirenaturalist (checked by kylejones)
New Jersey - jtuttle (checked by kylejones)
New York - berkshirenaturalist (checked by kylejones)
North Carolina - eraskin (checked by kylejones)
North Dakota - eraskin (checked by kylejones)
Ohio - kylejones
Oklahoma - kylejones (checked by eraskin)
Pennsylvania - berkeshirenaturalist & kylejones
Rhode Island - berkshirenaturalist (checked by kylejones)
South Carolina - jtuttle (checked by kylejones)
South Dakota - eraskin (checked by kylejones)
Tennessee - jtuttle (checked by kylejones)
Vermont - berkshirenaturalist (checked by kylejones)
Virginia - kylejones
Washington, D.C. - kylejones (checked by eraskin)
West Virginia - jtuttle (checked by kylejones)
Wisconsin - jtuttle (checked by kylejones)

Underway:
Texas (see separate post here)

Methods:
I have been using the Identify tool to work through states - this way, I can mark each page of observations as reviewed, which will make it easier to review only the new observations for those states (won't have to look through all the observations of mature butterflies & moths over & over). If you would like to use that process, you can click this link & then search for a state in the "Place" box. This will pull up all Lepidoptera observations for that state that have not yet been added to the project, in ascending order by observation date (this is my personal preference, but you can do them in whatever order you please, of course). For more discussion of methods, see this post & related comments.

Last update: 1/19/2017, 2131