Well, it took me a little over a month, but I've finally edited and uploaded the last of my images from our Guatemala journey in early January. Here's the whole set:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=6940&user_id=gcwarbler&verifiable=any
These are the product of sorting through about 1700 photos to compile just under 500 observations. By iNat's calculation, the effort documented about 343 species of plants and animals, but I'm not sure how that total is calculated for my Observations page. There is still a fairly large set of my observations left at genus, subfamily, family, or higher levels of classification. In many cases, of course, some plants and animals won't be ID-able better than genus or so, but that still leaves a lot that I haven't pinned down. If anyone has a desire to delve into those groups needing more work, here are some subsets of my observations that could use some help:
Flowering plants IDed no lower than tribe (currently 17 observations):
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?hrank=kingdom&lrank=tribe&place_id=6940&taxon_id=47125&user_id=gcwarbler&verifiable=any
Insects with an ID no finer than tribe (about 84 observations; mostly moths, see next):
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?hrank=kingdom&lrank=tribe&place_id=6940&taxon_id=47158&user_id=gcwarbler&verifiable=any
Moths IDed no finer than tribe (about 53 observations):
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?hrank=kingdom&lrank=tribe&place_id=6940&taxon_id=47157&user_id=gcwarbler&verifiable=any
For a country with such incredibly rich biological diversity, Guatemala is in dire need of additional attention to document this diversity. My meager efforts on a 12-day visit now place me among the top dozen in observations and species out of some 3,000 iNat observers in Guatemala (local and visitors). To date, this most populous country of seven Central American nations has the 2nd lowest iNaturalist observer density (in terms of both population and area), 2nd lowest number of observations per 1000 sq. km. and the lowest number of observations per iNaturalist observer. There are obviously some difficult and complex socio-economic issues behind such numbers and I am in no position to analyze this further. That said, I have been encouraged by some of my Guatemalan friends to solicit further attention to this biological wonderland. I am certain I will be making a return visit to Guatemala in the not-too-distant future.
I'm expecting this to be an Arctiinae moth, perhaps related to the large genus Ormetica, but I'm not finding anything quite like it in several sources. The moth is about 2 cm long.
I'll have a lot more moths to upload from some episodic mothing efforts at four of the locations where we stayed overnight.
A number of these were flitting around on the porches and walkways of CCFC. This one landed on a friend's arm.
Charley Eiseman's initial assessment of this leafminer suggested it is likely to be a Gracillariid. The plant is in the understory of cloud forest habitat at about 5300 ft elevation in the central highlands of Guatemala. The plant, a member of the Melastomataceae, has been uploaded separately. See,
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/105675735
I have been unable to pin down this moth, of which I saw several at Posada Montaña. I expect it is a species of Hammaptera or the related Psaliodes.
Roadside in wet pine-oak woodlands at 5630 ft (1715 m) elevation.
Well, I did find Calyptocarpus in Guatemala, but I'm not sure which species I documented. The expected native species in Guatemala is C. wendlandii, but apparently Straggler Daisy (C. vialis) is spreading rapidly in Central America from its native range in Mexico. The only available key I've seen referenced is in an old issue of the journal Brittonia which is behind a Springer paywall. Ugh...
McVaugh, R., Smith, N.J. Calyptocarpus vialis and C. wendlandii (Compositae). Brittonia 19, 268–272 (1967). https://doi.org/10.2307/2805778
If anyone has access to that publication, I would appreciate a synthesis of the key separating these two species.
I have a digital copy of the Flora of Guatemala (Part XII) which describes C. wendlandii but I can't really tell how it might differ from vialis--sounds very similar.
There were several plants on a dry rocky slope adjacent to the road and at the base of the road cut. I think I have this properly placed to genus, but Hechtia's are apparently not widespread in Guatemala. This location is about 20 mi (35 km) NE of the type locality for the endemic Hechtia dichroantha, but I can't find any images of that species. Unfortunately, I didn't see any flowering stalks on the examples we encountered. Elevation on this stretch of road was about 4100 ft (1250 m). Substrates were mostly shallow soils on metamorphic rocks including some serpentine. Vegetation was mostly arid brush and low open woodland on a south-facing slope.
Bromeliaceae
I haven't yet worked through keys to try to figure out some of these last plants. These were all on the roadside with adjacent arid brush on a dry, rocky, south-facing slope, on metamorphic (poss. serpentine) substrate, at about 3400 ft (1035 m) elevation.
I'm not sure of this placement. I failed to get images of the leaves.
This seems to be a seldom-photographed syrphid fly. The Catalogue of Dipatera South of the United States mentions records from Panama and Brazil. I found one publisehd report from Mexico, and two records on iNat are from Colombia and Equador. This seems to be a first report from Guatemala.
@gilfelipe Thanks for your research on this group. Did I get this correct?
This iconic large Kapok Tree (Ceiba) at the entrance to Tikal may be the most-photographed single tree in all of Guatemala.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/102919436
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/86583881
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/86409460
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/80274007
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/75625311
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/73829266
etc.
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Just for giggles, I looked at your calendar:
https://www.inaturalist.org/calendar/gcwarbler
And if you were in Guatemala from 4 - 14 January, I added up the "life firsts." It's not necessarily "new species" but "new taxonomic lineages" -- so some of these were totally new families or higher taxa... Nonetheless, you observed 335 new taxonomic lineages (with more to come as they get ID'ed).
To sum up: you saw cool new stuff! :) Loved looking through these.
Yes, I'm still trying to solicit help from Central American botanists, etc., to pin down more IDs.
I loved looking through your observations, Chuck. It looks like it was a fantastic trip! Thank you for sharing your photos with the world through iNat.
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