CNDDB News Blog

CNDDB recently contacted LJ Moore to submit rare species detections to our project on iNaturalist. We learned that LJ is an artist and poet who draws inspiration from California’s unique wildlife. She agreed to share some of her artwork with our blog. We hope it motivates you to continue your explorations of our state’s remarkable biodiversity!

A California newt emerging during the first rain of 2020 at China Camp State Park: a welcome sight during a very difficult year.

Portrait of Lethe, a turkey vulture hatched in California in 2000 and now part of the Education Team at the Cascades Raptor Center in Oregon.

Mojave green rattlesnake and Mojave fishhook cactus: both seen near Rainbow Basin Natural Area, Barstow, California.

About the artist: LJ Moore-McClelland was born in Southern California and used to ditch school to go boogie boarding. Introduced to the Mojave Desert at a young age, she gained a deep love and respect for organisms able to thrive in extreme environments. Her adventures include sailing the arctic circle with a group of artists in 2013, and a 2010 residency at Marin Headlands Center for the Arts. She now lives in Marin County and is an avid naturalist and illustrator committed to documenting, celebrating, and preserving biodiversity.

Many thanks to LJ for the beautiful artwork. Check out more of her content on Instagram @xenofiles.

If you, too are active on iNaturalist, we encourage you to share rare plant and animal observations with CNDDB’s project. And, as always, you can submit detection data directly to CNDDB via our Online Field Survey Form.

Emys marmorata – western pond turtle
Submitted by Zachary Abbey of Padre Inc.

Zachary came across some juvenile western pond turtles along Santa Monica Creek in Santa Barbara County. This turtle species is endemic to the western United States ranging from the Puget Sound lowlands in Washington to Baja California. Western pond turtles are small to medium sized with brown and green coloring and black spotted pattern on their heads and legs. They spend almost their entire lives in or close to water, but don't be alarmed if you see one roaming on land! Western pond turtles sometimes leave their aquatic habitats to search for food, habitat, or mates. During the winter months, western pond turtles hibernate underwater and breathe underwater using the process of cloacal respiration. Cloacal respiration allows these turtles to pump water through the cloaca (located at the rear of the turtle) to sacs lined with blood vessels that act like gills. There, oxygen diffuses in and carbon dioxide is released. Western pond turtle populations face many threats including historical commercial harvests, wetland drainage projects, and invasive species like the red-eared slider and bullfrog. Currently, the CNDDB has 1398 mapped occurrences. Thank you, Zachary, for submitting this observation!

Bolandra californica – Sierra bolandra
Submitted by Dana York

This inconspicuous little flower was discovered by Dana along the Sierra Nevada mountains in Mariposa County. Bolandra californica was first listed in the 1974 first edition of the CNPS Inventory of Rare and Endangered Plants as rare but not endangered and is currently considered a California Rare Plant Rank 4.3 (limited distribution in California; not very threatened in California). It is found growing in rock crevices of montane coniferous forests throughout the central Sierra Nevada mountains. The flower grows in a panicle or branching flowering structure where the lowest or outermost flowers bloom before the highest or central flowers. These flowers can be seen blooming through the summer from May to August. Thank you, Dana, for this amazing find, and for all the work you do helping all the rare and endangered plants in California!

Do you have some great photos of rare plants or wildlife detections? Submit them along with your findings through our Online Field Survey Form and see if your photos get showcased!

Every type of organism deserves our respect, especially those who were already ancient before the dinosaurs first arrived on the scene.

When hearing "snail" most people think of a typical non-native garden snail. Nature is much more interesting than that. California boasts at least 240 named species of land snails, some of which are known only from a handful of field collections. 71 of these snails are considered imperiled and are tracked by CNDDB. Each of these species survives using staggeringly complicated biochemistry and carries along with it a long history of evading extinction by adapting at a snail’s pace.

Since snails are often found in cool, moist environments, many of these species will face increased pressures in the coming decades due to climate change. Some of California’s snail species will likely go extinct before ever being described. The people who are remembered as the legends in a given field of science are often just the first people who decide to investigate a topic in detail. New snail discoveries are made by curious amateurs. If you want to do some cutting-edge conservation science, you may find delving a bit into malacology quite rewarding.

The Shasta sideband snail (Monadenia troglodytes troglodytes) was originally known from a set of shells found in a cave with ice age fossils of extinct creatures such as the Shasta ground sloth. The 1933 publication that first described the shells said they belonged to an extinct species. Later research determined these snails are very much alive. They are restricted to limestone outcroppings in the vicinity of Shasta Lake. The US Forest Service now includes M. t. troglodytes on its list of sensitive species and NatureServe categorizes it as Critically Imperiled.

The Shasta sideband shown here was found in 2017 only a few steps away from a paved public road. The next time you’re in snail country, walk slow and keep your eyes open. You never know what you might find! If you spot anything rare, be sure to share your findings with CNDDB through our Online Field Survey Form.