Get the latest tech news

First Known Photographs of Living Specimens

This project is designed to showcase the first known photographs of living specimens of any species. Note that by 'first known' I'm referring to the first known photographs of a species anywhere, not just the first photographs to be submitted to iNaturalist. Two types of observation will be included: 1) First photographic records of undescribed species e.g. this Gasteracantha sp. 2) First photographic records of already described (but obviously relatively uncommon or cryptic) species e.g. this wasp fly. If the male and female of a species are sexually dimorphic, then both are valid to be added to the project. So too if a species has distinct life stages (eg caterpillar/chrysalis/butterfly), they are all valid to be separately added to the project (assuming the other rules apply). Please only add observations depicting live organisms; this therefore excludes specimens such as pinned insects. If you see an observation currently in the project that you know is not the first photograph ...

If you encounter an observation of a species that is older than one already in the project, add it, but please message me so I can remove the one that no longer qualifies as oldest. A number of observations have been added that depict things like empty mollusc shells, dead fishes, pinned insects, etc. I'd like to especially highlight the recent efforts of@borisb, who has contributed tremendously (IDing and adding) in the world of beetles and has been a very vocal advocate for the project, letting users know each time he adds one of their observations.

Get the Android app