Dodgy NVA records on ALA

The Natural Values Atlas (NVA) here in Tassie is generally known for being poorly curated and full of unverified and unverifiable sighting records.

Recently I was looking up the carabid beetle Rhabdotus floridus on the ALA and noticed a cluster of dots in the south east of Tasmania well outside the range of R. floridus but right in the range of the closely related and very similar looking Rhabdotus reflexus.

R. floridus is confined to the north west and west of Tasmania.

I contacted the NVA about these records and remarkably no specimens of their south east R. floridus were collected, no photos were provided and it was not even recorded who made the identifications. Even if these beetles existed and were Rhabdotus they were almost certainly R. reflexus.

I suggested to the NVA that such records are essentially worthless and do nothing but create confusion and that they should be removed. They appear to have ignored me.

In the absence of voucher specimens, when it comes to invertebrates, the minimum requirements for inclusion should be the name of the identifier and a photo.

The records I have mentioned here are NVA 360758-62 and 361263-4, 361279-80.

AtlasOfLivingAustralia / data-management

Dodgy NVA records on ALA #853