iNaturalist Highlight: 26,000th observation (Leptoglossus oppositus) -- a leaf-footed taxonomic puzzle!

On 28 June 2026 (a while ago now, and the delay in reporting is explained below), I uploaded my 26,000th iNaturalist observation, a Leptoglossus oppositus, a leaf-footed bug, in Colonial Village, Arlington, Virginia. As of this date, I've had 25 observations of the species.

I thought that documenting this species would be easy, since it's quite common, however, once I started digging in, it turned into quite a taxonomic rabbit hole that is not quite fully resolved (from a bibliographic citation trail) in my mind.

First issue, GBIF, via the Catalogue of Life, lists the citation for the species as:

Say, T. (1832) In New species of North American insects found by Joseph Barabino, chiefly in Louisiana. New Harmony, Indiana. 1–16 pp. [1831]

I wasn't able to find a copy of this item on BHL, but HathiTrust did have a copy (see here). I went through this sixteen pages way too many times and found no mention of Leptoglossus oppositus (or Anisoscelis oppositus as first named by Say).

Finally, I went to the collected works of Say (on BHL):

Say,  Thomas, & LeConte,  John Lawrence. (1891). The complete writings of Thomas Say on the entomology of North America (Vol. 1, p. 327). A. E. Foote. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/24631474

And went page by page through the 1830-1832 publications. As I expected, I didn't find anything in New species of North American insects found by Joseph Barabino, chiefly in Louisiana. But, I did find A. oppositus described in:

Say, Thomas. 1831 December. Descriptions of new species of HETEROPTEROUS HEMIPTERA of North America. New Harmony, Indiana. (BHL page link -- see page image below).

So, it looks like GBIF and the Catalogue of Life need to do a bit of cleanup on their citations!

From Wikipedia: Leptoglossus oppositus a species of leaf-footed bug (family Coreidae) found in North America. It resembles Leptoglossus fulvicornis but can be distinguished by the deeper scallops in the leaf-like feature of the hind tibia and the addition of three white spots across the hemelytra. This species is widely dispersed from New York to Florida and as far west as Iowa and Minnesota, as well as the southwest regions of the United States into Mexico.

HISTORIC DOCUMENTATION

Leptoglossus oppositus was first described by Thomas Say in 1831 (December) (as Anisoscelis oppositus):

3. A. oppositus. — Reddish-brown; hemelytra with a white point in the middle of the corium; antennae rufous; head trilineated; posterior tibiae dilated and sinuated. 

Inhabits Indiana.

This is very closely allied to albicinctus nob., but is uniform in its differential characters. It may be known by the small white point of the hemelytra.

Say, Thomas. 1831 December. Descriptions of new species of HETEROPTEROUS HEMIPTERA of North America. New Harmony, Indiana. Reprinted in The complete writings of Thomas Say on the entomology of North America (Vol. 1, p. 327). A. E. Foote. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/24631474.

iNaturalist Observations: In and Around the Netherlands (30 May - 7 June 2026)

Green Immigrant Leaf Weevil

This trip to the Netherlands was quite productive from an observation standpoint. I was able to visit Leiden (great observations in the Hortus Botanicus), Delft (again, the visit to the TU Delft Hortus Botanicus was great), Amsterdam, Den Haag, and Scheveningen (mollusks!).

Total: 30 May - 7 June (as of 7 June 2026)

• Observations: 242

• Species: 110

• Netherlands: My Observations (All Time)

Notables

• Top Species: Eurasian Coot (19)

• Green Immigrant Leaf Weevil

• Zebra Jumping Spider (Salticus scenicus)

• Hollyhock Weevil

• Azure Damselfly

iNaturalist Observations: In and Around Helsinki (26-30 May 2026)

Mordellochroa abdominalis

Total: 25-30 May 2026 (as of 7 June 2026)

• Observations: 158

• Species: 72

• Finland: All My Observations (All Time)

Here are my iNaturalist observations on a trip to the Helsinki area, 26-30 May 2026.

Notables

• Top Species: Barnacle Goose (15 observations)

• Mordellochroa abdominalis

• Eurasian Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus)

• Fourteen-spotted Lady Beetle (Propylea quatuordecimpunctata)

• Subgenus Nabis

New to the Merlin Life List

1. Willo Warbler

2. Barnacle Goose

3. Eurasian Oystercatcher

4. Red Crossbill

5. Common Eider

iNaturalist Highlight: 25,000th observation (Podisus maculiventris, the spined soldier bug)

On 21 May 2026, I uploaded my 25,000th iNaturalist observation, a nymph of the Podisus maculiventris, the spined soldier bug spotted in Hillside Park, Arlington, Virginia. 

As of this date, I've had 11 observations of the species (with some additional observations from the genus Podisus). A few days before this observation, I had another observation of a P. maculiventris attacking a much larger Nearctic Carpenter Ant (Camponotus nearcticus)

"Podisus maculiventris, the spined soldier bug, is a medium-sized predatory shield bug common in North America. It has prominent spines on each "shoulder" and preys on a wide variety of arthropods, particularly the larval forms of Lepidoptera and Coleoptera. As a generalist predator of many agricultural pests, P. maculiventris is generally considered a beneficial insect in gardens and crop fields." -- Wikipedia

P. maculiventris was first described by Thomas Say in 1831:

P. maculiventris, Hemelytra with a line at tip ; venter with five series of black points.

Inhab. U. S.

Body yellowish or pale brownish, with dense, rather large punctures : thorax acutely angulated each side behind the middle ; edge granulated before the middle : hemelytra having an abbreviated fuscous line at tip of the membranous portion : antennae, first joint short ; 2d longer than the third : tergum on the lateral margin with a blackish dot on each incisure : beneath yellowish : feet immaculate ; thighs sometimes having numerous minute blackish points ; anterior tibiae with an obvious spine over the slight emargination : venter with five obvious series of small black dots.

Say, Thomas. 1831 March. Descriptions of new species of North American insects, found in Louisiana by Joseph Barabino. New Harmony, Indiana. [page image from the HathiTrust].

iNaturalist Highlight: 24,000th iNaturalist Observation: Atalantycha bilineata (Two-lined Leatherwing)

On 9 April 2026 I made my 24,000th iNaturalist observation (at left). The observation was of Atalantycha bilineata (Two-lined Leatherwing) spotted on a walk through Hillside Park (in Arlington, VA). I ended up observing three individuals (see all my observations of Atalantycha bilineata here).

Atalantycha bilineata was originally described by American entomologist Thomas Say in 1823 under the binomial name Cantharis bilineata in the Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (volume 3, page 182):

6. C. bilineatus. Rufous; elytra black; thorax with two black lines. Inhabits the United States.

The eagle-eyed will note that Say indicates the species as C. bilineatus, not C. bilineata. Why you ask, well, the discrepancy arises from the gender of the species name, which must agree with the genus name Cantharis (feminine). While it was sometimes historically listed with the masculine suffix -us, the correct scientific name based on ICZN rules is Cantharis bilineata.

At right: Say, T. (1823). Cantharis bilineata. In Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (Vol. 3, p. 182). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19498272

The species had kept the Cantharis bilineata name until 2005 when Sergey Kazantsev's review of the genus established the new Nearctic genus Atalantycha to accommodate certain species, including A. bilineata as a new combination.

iNaturalist Observations: In and Around Copenhagen (22-31 March 2026)

Nesting Mute Swan

I attended the 2026 GBIF Midterm meetings in Copenhagen in March 2026. I added on a few days of holiday to visit some of my favorites in the city.

The weather wasn't really good for a lot of observations and I didn't get out of the city, so many of my observations were of birds (especially around the Lakes). 

Total: 23-31 March 2026 (as of 1 April 2026)

• Observations: 89

• Species: 38

Notables

• Eurasian wigeon (Mareca penelope)

• Great Tit (Parus major)

• Deer (partial jaw)

Here are all my observations from various trips to Denmark: Denmark: My Observations

Jaw of a species of Dear

First Spotted Lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) observation of the year

 

Last year, I made my first Lycorma delicatula observation on 13 April 2025. This year, it was 10 days earlier (3 April 2025) in nearly the same spot. With the large number of (visible) egg masses in my neighborhood, I fear it will be another booming year. 

In 2025, I made 1,519 observations in Arlington, Virginia.

My iNaturalist Year in Review: 7,304 observations | 1,164 species | 114 identifications

A very busy year with iNaturalist. Of course many of those observations (1,575!) were Spotted Lanternflies (Lycorma delicatula). My species count was also helped by visiting New Zealand, Colombia, and San Francisco.

You can see the full 2025 report here.

iNaturalist Observations: In and Around London (23 December 2025 - 2 January 2026)

I was back in the United Kingdom again in later December, spent most of the time in Richmond Upon Thames, but had a few side visits around London and also a day trip to Lewes. 

At right is a Pellitory-of-the-Wall (Parietaria judaica): 

Parietaria judaica, spreading pellitory, is a species of herbaceous perennial flowering plant in the family Urticaceae. It is native to the eastern Mediterranean and Middle East, and is widely established worldwide as an urban weed. Its pollen is a significant cause of asthma and other allergies in warmer countries, but it is also valued as a contributor to biodiversity in polluted cities and it has been used as a medicinal herb. -- iNaturalist

My Observations

Total: 23 December 2025 - 2 January 2026 (as of 4 January 2026)

• Observations: 67

• Species: 29

Notables

• 46 of the 67 observations were birds!

iNaturalist Observations: In and Around London (30 November - 8 December 2025)

I spent some time in and around London in early December 2025 to attend the Fantastic Futures 2025: AI Everywhere, All at Once at the British Library. I spend most of my time in London proper, but did have a few side-trips to Richmond and Greenwich/New Cross.

At right is a Missing-Sector Orbweb Spider (Genus Zygiella):

Zygiella is a genus of orb-weaver spiders first described by F. O. Pickard-Cambridge in 1902. In 2015, Parazygiella was determined to be a taxonomic synonym of Zygiella, and its species were moved to Zygiella. 

Identification
Zygiella species are distinguished by the structure of the web, which has a missing sector containing a signaling thread leading to a retreat. Zygiella x-notata, a species in the Zygiella genus, is well-researched for its missing-sector web construction behaviors. -- iNaturalist

My Observation

Total: 30 November - 8 December 2025 (as of 9 December 2025)

• Observations: 34

• Species: 17

Notables

• Noble False Widow (Steatoda nobilis)