Cannot add observation

1

Trying to add Mullein moth caterpillar am overridden by group drop down that insists it’s a plant by the same name.

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iSpot seems to not include moth in the vernacular name of moths, so Mullein Moth ends up as the Moth Mullein (Verbascum blattaria). If you just offer it Mullein you can then pick Shargacucullia verbasci. (Cinnabar moth, for example, also comes up blank - Cinnabar is what iSpot recognises.)

In the same way you shouldn’t offer it the term for the juvenile stage of a species, whether it be chick, caterpillar, larva or nymph - mullein moth caterpillar produces no matches.

Presumably iSpot thinks that rabbit mammal, robin bird, cinnabar moth, peacock butterfly and mullein plant are all solecisms - however carpet beetle and blue-tailed damselfly are recognised, so perhaps it’s a case of different sources for the different groups of organisms in the dictionaries using differing practices.

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Interestingly, Mullein bug is offered. Campylomma verbasci, as it is known, is not a Hemipteran I know - but then I know so few. I do know a Mullein when I see one.
Solecism - I’d almost forgotten the word; thanks.

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Thanks.Nothing like making live difficult if you don’t know the scientific names.

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iSpot is still beating you - you’ve entered the zoological name by hand, and mistyped it. (Or, on reading the comment thread on the observation, HB mistyped it.)

Go to the vernacular name box, enter mullein, and select the option that corresponds to Shargacucullia verbasci. Or enter Sha ver into the scientific name box, and do the same.

In general, iSpot doesn’t expect you to enter a full name, just enough to narrow down the possibilities. Unfortunately it is sufficiently slow that you can type the full name before the drop down box kicks into gear.

You have to remember that iSpot has no semantic understanding of names, beyond the mapping of names to groups. (I’ve been using computers long enough that search engines has no semantic understanding when I started using them.)

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An excellent series of responses from LvtG - thanks