I use iNaturalist a LOT. And I'm so grateful to the many experts who help identify my observations. Some take the time to share their knowledge. Like Christina Baer, who gave me advise on taking more angles of caterpillars, which will help folks like her ID them. Here's what she wrote on my observation of a crambid snout moth and I asked what "dorsal" meant:
"By a back view, I meant dorsal (the opposite side from the side with the legs/underside—an example). Both these photos are a lateral/side view, which shows the number of prolegs (always useful for caterpillars) and the side pattern (sometimes very important, but usually more at the level of 'Species A in the genus has little black dashes along the sides but Species B doesn't'). The dorsal view shows a lot more of the overall pattern and along with the number of prolegs is usually what identifiers are using to figure out where a caterpillar belongs. Another useful angle is a front shot of the head capsule. For a few specific groups, ventral (underside) photos are also important for ID, but that's less common."
Thank you, Christina!
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