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 (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)

iNaturalist Highlight: Chinese Mantis (Tenodera sinensis)

Mantids (Preying Mantis) are one of the most spectacular insects and come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, colors, behavior, & distribution; here are some examples from Saussure (1871), pl.4.

Washington, DC sees 5 common species in the Family Mantidae, 4 are introduced: European Mantis (M. religiosa), Narrow-winged Mantis (T. angustipennis), Asian Jumping Mantis (S. maculata), Chinese Mantis (T. sinensis), &  the native Carolina Mantis (S. carolina) (via @iNaturalist)

H de Saussure's work "Mélanges Orthoptérologiques" in Memoires de la Société de physique et d'histoire naturelle de Genève (t.21: pt.1-2 1871-72) is the 1st description of Chinese Mantis (T. sinensis). Text | Plate.

The image above is a Chinese Mantis I observed in my neighborhood a few years back (observation on @iNaturalist)

And here's some Carolina Mantis (Stagmomantis carolina) observed over the years (via  @iNaturalist).