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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Pan Species Listers anywhere? (1 Viewer)

iNaturalist has been instrumental in getting me more interested in pan listing. It's not truly my comprehensive life list, less than half of my bird species are on there, and there are plenty of other iconic taxa (distinctive plants like redwood and saguaro, cetaceans, others) that I've seen prior to becoming an iNat user that aren't on the list. Given that, I'm currently at 3,275 species on iNat. I've become especially interested in moths and odonates, to the point of beginning an excel sheet yard list for both groups. I'm at 117 moths and 10 odes for my yard, with an ode life list of 104 (until I finish identifying odes from my recent trip to Colombia) and a lepidoptera life list of 571.
 
We have 657 species of lepidoptera, the vast - and really, like 90% - majority of which I have no idea how to id :) This is where iNat really shines, a group that is huge, varied across the world but universally popular, there is always someone to ID. 114 odonata - of those I can ID the Czech/Polish ones and absolutely nothing else, haven't even tried to get any books on that. I am myself surprised how many species that is!
 
I started about a year ago, on igoterra, but it was probably august or so before i started adding plants and non-butterfly insects in earnest.

I'm up to 1269 species but hopefully that will jump in the spring if i make the effort with plants and hoverflies etc. Really enjoyed what it added to my walks in the autumn looking at stuff other than birds and i've made an effort to go back and think about what i've seen on trip photos.

I like how it gives you country totals too.

igoterra.png
 
I only recently started listing other species groups, most obviously butterflies.
Biggest gains to be made are moths (I know people who have seen a 1000 species locally), plants and fungi.

Some people aim for a 1000 species garden, and it seems obtainable (as long as you have both some talent for gardening and species ID ;)).
A garden list is very easy to make, as you can define personal polygons (so the contours of the garden), and everytime you enter an observation in your garden, it will show in your garden list.

These days, it's oh so easy to add different species groups with the ID feature of the database I'm using (observation) and the wealth of information on the internet. Still, there is a loooong way to go for several species groups before they reach the level of (clearly ordered) info as for birds.
 

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peter.jones said:
#3000 Small White Wave Moth! 2997, 98, and 99 were a flower, a micro moth and a hoverfly, so probably the best of the bunch!
Click to expand...

Congratulations. It’s quite addictive isn’t it. I’ve gone to 1796 since my post a few months back still managing 9 or 10 on most trips to any suitable habitat but a lot of that has been down to it being the first spring and summer I’ve been doing it. I’m sure they’ll dry up soon. Just one wildflower today.
 
Tiraya said:
Some past identification work finally pushed my list to 20,000. 10 years ago, I never thought it possible! But with so many diverse places I've never visited, surely it can go much higher...!
Click to expand...
James, a few of us are coming up with a devious plan to get you a girlfriend ;)

You're welcome here for a week, anytime btw.
 
Owene said:
Congratulations. It’s quite addictive isn’t it. I’ve gone to 1796 since my post a few months back still managing 9 or 10 on most trips to any suitable habitat but a lot of that has been down to it being the first spring and summer I’ve been doing it. I’m sure they’ll dry up soon. Just one wildflower today.
Click to expand...
It's the moth box that keeps on giving here! considering I've ran one for 20 years, I'm amazed that it still attracts new species.
But I'm the same, running out of ideas for new groups now, locally at any rate. Maybe Spiders or Fungi, but I find both incredibly tricky.
 
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I find spiders impossible. Fungi not so bad but I’ve seen quite a few locally now. I’m pretty good at knowing quickly whether I’ve seen something before but each new area is such a learning curve
 
Owene said:
I find spiders impossible. Fungi not so bad but I’ve seen quite a few locally now. I’m pretty good at knowing quickly whether I’ve seen something before but each new area is such a learning curve
Click to expand...
I have a pretty good memory and generally, know if I've seen something before but, knowing what it actually is, is a totally different matter.

Spiders are impossible btw.
 
What do you mean by spiders being impossible? I don't really know anything about them :) But iNat IDers have managed to give me 88 taxa (quite often not species, but still different leaves of the tree) in Europe, which is not that bad. It seems to me that many spiders can't be gotten beyond genus or some "species conplex", but many can.
 
Do pan-listers need to get down to species level for all taxa? I would think given arthropod diversity and difficulty with idea, getting down to even just family would be specific enough.
 
It depends. There are many arthropods that you can get to species - obviously butterflies, dragonflies, but many beetles, bugs, but also a lot of diptera, bees etc... so that would be a shame to not have. But I am certainly happy for every new end taxon, whatever the depth in the tree is - another thing I like about iNat, that it seamlessly shows just this - and also people there will quickly let you know if you attempt to overeagerly claim something to a too specific level when it can't be reliably IDed. The only catch of iNat here is that the leaderboard doesn't count things that aren't better than genus I think and that matter to ... some :)
 

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