A Reminder To Obscure Your 'Rare' Observations
Unfortunately over the last few months it has come to my attention that there are people who use this website not in the way it was intended. There are users who use iNaturalist not to upload observations and contribute to citizen science but as a database to track down and illegally poach animlas, particularly invertebrates.
This week one of my greatest fears came true as a Myrmecia nobilis nest (on land protected by Parks Victoria) which myself and fellow member of the Entomological Society of Victoria @gelkiu had been documenting was illegally dug up. This species is a grassland endemic and the queens are completely wingless, greatly limiting their dispersal ability, made even more difficult by an already highly fragmented grassland ecosystem.
Rare ants are not the only organisms affected by illegal poaching. Many invertebrates with poor dispersal ability particularly mygalomorphs and scorpions are also vulnerable to illegal poaching and over collection.
If you ever come across this ant or other ant or insect species which you believe to be rare or vulnerable to illegal collection please obscure them.
