December Challenge Review

Our First Monthly Challenge is complete, in the last month of 2020 we all contributed a massive effort. The numbers will only go up as people may upload observations in the next few weeks. As of writing, we have contributed
3,309 Observations
1,124 Species
293 Identifiers
29 Observers

For the latest results check the December Challenge-Updated Stats

The most observed species in December was the Ornate Burrowing Frog, Platyplectrum ornatum with 133 observations by two observers @gregtasney and @timothyshields all from Queensland.

Ornate Burrowing Frog, Platyplectrum ornatum observed by @gregtasney from Queensland.

One of the highlights has to be the observation of Mottled Treesnail , Papuexul bidwilli by @gregtasney. A rare airbreathing land snail species, which is on the IUCN red list as "Near Threatened", with only 50 records on the Atlas of Living Australia and the only observation on iNaturalist. This is a rainforest snail that appears to have a patchy distribution along Australia's east coast from Maryborough to Foster. The usual habitat is thought to be up in the canopy of the patchy rainforest, which makes this an especially tricky species to encounter. Greg said 'This specimen (picture below) was found in the rainforest on the edge of Mooloolah River. It’s a biodiversity hot spot'.

This certainly eclipses my exciting first observation on iNaturalist of (Euthera skusei) earlier this month during my walk through the Adelaide Botanical Gardens. some very helpful notes on the identification bye @tony_d who noted "Interesting find! In short, the yellow face and the sides of the wing black bands irregular in shape (ie not straight) agrees with E. skusei. E. reiki has also the yellow face but the sides of the wing bands are "nearly parallel" (Paramonov 1953). Other described Australian species have entirely dark heads (Cantrell 1983)."


Euthera skusei observerved in a tree by @stephen169 on the banks of the Torrens river Adelaide.
In another great example of citizen science one of our consistent and diligent observers @streglystendec, has noticed a strange species of Cicada frequenting his backyard, attracted lights on calm warm nights in December. It turns out it is an undescribed Yoyetta species (both male and female) with some amazzing images taken. The species will be described by David Emery (Cicadas specialist) for a paperin 2021.

Genus Yoyetta female left male right from Adelaide SA, Australia.

During the month all 6 observers below made at least 50 observations, and two with over 1,000.

@gregtasney

@natashataylor

@stephen169

@anthonypaul

@streglystendec

@fairypossum

While we another 23 observers contributed to our collections
@pam275 @sarinozi @leithallb @elfir @jeannie_bartram @melbo @adel_plainsgirl @rwl @nikonoid @heathwallum @strawberry15 @timothyshields @owen65 @dragonette @stekmer @fossil1513 @aavankampen @bigpete @ellurasanctuary @becstummer @littlellama @marionmackenzie @seamus-doherty

I would like to make this a monthly Challenge!
25 Observations novice
50 Observations "The Challenge"
100 Observations "Expert Challenge'
1000 observations "The Greg"

Posted on January 2, 2021 11:57 AM by saltmarshsteve saltmarshsteve

Comments

Wonderful Stephen, thank you.

Posted by gregtasney about 3 years ago

No worries Greg amazing observations last month!

Posted by saltmarshsteve about 3 years ago

An undescribed Yoyetta species (both male and female) has been frequenting my backyard lights on calm warm nights in December.
The species will be described by David Emery (Cicadas specialist) for a paper this year.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/66167292
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/66167385

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2722-6854

Posted by streglystendec about 3 years ago

That's exciting.

Posted by gregtasney about 3 years ago

That's great Mike, fantastic photos! and interesting observations. I have added these to the review and may share the great images.

Posted by saltmarshsteve about 3 years ago

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