Identifier Profile: @maelan51 & @natael51

This is the twenty-first entry in an ongoing monthly (or almost monthly!) series profiling the amazing identifiers of iNaturalist.

Maëlan and Nataël Adam are eighteen year-old twin brothers residing in the French town of Châlons-en-Champagne, “located in the middle of the cereal plains of the Grand Est region in France,” says Nataël. They’ve always been passionate about nature, he tells me, 

But it was when we entered high school, about three years ago, for a professional baccalaureate in Management of Natural Environment and Wildlife, that we really became interested in animals. Our grandfather told us about iNaturalist, and it was at this time that we joined iNaturalist and started taking photos of every animal we saw, even though we didn't know much about them. We only knew the basics, like ladybugs, ants, and snails.

We learned to identify different species only recently (a little over two years ago) thanks to iNaturalist. From then on, we started going to the forest near our school almost every day of the week to observe and try to identify the different species we came across.

Maëlan and Nataël have now added over 22,000 IDs for other users on iNaturalist, mostly focusing on snails but also adding IDs for other taxa. Nataël explains,

The variety of shapes and beauty of the different species of snails in our school interested us and the more we learned about molluscs, the more it interested us. We have therefore “specialized” in molluscs (gastropods) but other animals, fungi and plants also interest us…

Identifying other people's observations allows me to practice differentiating species and remembering the various identification criteria. This also helps other people differentiate species, which is why I sometimes post comments to explain why it is one species and not another.

When identifying, the twins will try to get as many “easy” IDs out of the way as possible, and also look through other observations to add correct observations. When they’re stumped, they use the French website INPN, Estran22, and iNat itself. “It is very difficult to find documents on rare species,” laments Maëlan, who does try to get identifications to the species level if possible.

The twins continue to post observations and make IDs, and Maëlan’s ambitions include describing new snail species, such as those found in springs, groundwater, and caves, and writing papers about them. In addition to gastropods, Nataël’s interests also include other soil fauna, such as spiders, mites, springtails, etc). 

(Photos: Above, Maëlan, below, Nataël. Thank you to @sylvainmorin for translation help. Some quotes have been edited for clarity.)

- Nataël’s advice for making identifiable snail observations: “take at least three photos of the three main faces (for example: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/184729733). If possible, measure its size, clean the shell (which I don't do 😅) and specify the environment where it was found (marsh, meadow, ponds, etc.).”

- if you want to collect shells, and it’s legal do so, Maëlan has some tips: “empty shells can still be useful. I would just like to point out that you have to be careful if it is a protected species, check that there is nothing alive inside the shell and not take too much, especially on the beaches where they help reform the sand.”

- Maëlan’s favorite snail taxa: “my favorite families are Moitessieriidae, Bythinellidae, Cochlostomatidae and Clausiliidae. They are incredible families. For those who do not live in Europe, I will explain the Moitessieriidae and the Bythinellidae: these are two families of snails which live mainly in groundwater and springs, and about which very little is known, with almost only endemic and micro-endemic species that are sometimes only found in a single source or a single well...in the world.”

- Nataël’s favorite snail taxa: “my favorite gastropods (in France) are the Chondrinidae (terrestrial), the Moitessieriidae and the Bythinellidae (freshwater aquatic) and Mangeliidae and the Raphitomidae (marine). Among all gastropods, I prefer the rarest and/or endemic species. In addition, they are often the most impressive species, such as Neniatlanta pauli, a Clausiliidae, which is truly impressive for France.”

- Australian user @thebeachcomber (who's identified a lot of molluscs) goes over seven reasons to identify observations on iNaturalist in this video.

Posted on December 18, 2023 09:28 PM by tiwane