Flag for Taxon: Giant Crane Fly (Tipula abdominalis)
| Flagger | Content Author | Content | Reason | Flag Created | Resolved by | Resolution |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| treegrow | Giant Crane Fly (Tipula abdominalis) |
Many crane flies get incorrectly identified as T. abdominalis due to iNat autosuggestions |
Oct. 24, 2019 04:59:33 +0000 | Not Resolved |
Comments
they once chose something and it will not help them anymore. ..if they do not understand the principles of proper operation in general, and why is this all. and for auto-id maybe would be better to prohibit giving species at all, and add filters by continent - maybe added manually.
@treegrow These are such useful comments - thank you for taking the time to add them and describe the features in detail. In my subsequent observations of Tipula, I will try to get close up shots of the legs to see if I can do better in my identifications. I've bookmarked this page so I can consult your description again next time.
For crane flies, also try to get lateral shots of the thorax & abdomen, and make sure you have shots where the wing veins are visible.
Ah, ok. Thanks for the insight.
No curation issue.
@borisb What do you mean?
Curation = changes inter taxa, or new rooting.
Here it is about check of IDs.
Flags can have a variety of purposes. They are not just for taxon changes. Some of us have been using taxon flags to keep track of problems created by iNat autosuggestions: https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/computer-vision-clean-up-archive/7281
There are two species of Nippotipula in North America: Tipula abdominalis & Tipula metacomet. Both are included in the computer vision algorithm, but T. abdominalis seems to generally end up higher up in the autosuggestions and therefore has more misidentifications. Most T. metacomet specimens, many large Tipulas, and the occasional Nephrotoma and limoniid along with just about any crane fly larva end up in the T. abdominalis collection. Sometimes you also find a T. abdominalis identified as T. metacomet.
Both T. abdominalis and T. metacomet are endemic to Eastern North America. They occur from Southeast Canada to the Southeast United States. There are a few credible records in the Great Plains, but any observations west of the Rockies or outside of the US/Canada are almost certainly misidentifications. Also, T. abdominalis adults fly only in the summer and fall. Any observations of adults in the spring are probably misidentified.
To confirm that a large American crane fly is in the subgenus Nippotipula, look for two central, velvety black lines flanked by three lateral, velvety black spots, outlined in white, on the scutum (top of thorax, see photo). If the thorax is entirely smooth or glossy, it's not an American Nippotipula. The wings are almost as long as the abdomen. They are clear but clouded with grey, with strong, dark veins, and several small dark and white spots.
The two nearctic Nippotipula species can be told apart based on the color of the legs. In T. metacomet, they are uniformly dark, in T. abdominalis, there are light rings (sometimes quite faint) near the tip of the femur and the base of the tibia. Observations without a clear view of the color of the legs should not be identified to species.