by Matt Pelikan | Jun 7, 2021 | Insects, Martha's Vineyard Atlas of Life
Human travel and commerce have completely rewritten the book on wildlife distribution. Deliberately or by accident, humans have transported many thousands of species from their native ranges to new regions or continents. Some of these species fail to get established;... 
by Matt Pelikan | May 27, 2021 | Insects, Martha's Vineyard Atlas of Life
With 4 million contributors, more than 67 million records, and a third of a million species documented, iNaturalist might seem like a complete archive of biodiversity. But with an estimated 1.3 million species described in the world, and far more than that thought to... 
by Matt Pelikan | May 17, 2021 | Insects, Martha's Vineyard Atlas of Life
An interesting species was added to the BWorks Martha’s Vineyard Atlas of Life project on iNaturalist last weekend: Vespula vidua, sometimes known as the widow yellowjacket. A queen or “foundress” of this large wasp species was photographed visiting... 
by Matt Pelikan | May 6, 2021 | Insects, Martha's Vineyard Atlas of Life
Flies — the order Diptera — tend to be either ignored or reviled by humans. But this diverse group of insects, with about 17,000 known species in North America, is of enormous ecological importance. Many flies serve as pollinators; many others are... 
by Matt Pelikan | Apr 7, 2021 | Insects, Martha's Vineyard Atlas of Life
An alert observer and the power of iNaturalist (iNaturalist.org) recently combined to add a regionally important insect record on Martha’s Vineyard! iNaturalist observer abgeorge found the animal, a large water bug known as Benacus griseus or Eastern Toe-Biter,...