CNDDB News Blog

Lewisia kelloggii ssp. kelloggii – Kellogg’s lewisia
Submitted by Ellen Sampson and Randy Roig

This inconspicuous flower was found by Ellen Sampson and Randy Roig in Sierra County. Lewisia kelloggii ssp. kelloggii was listed in 2013 as Rank 3.2 (more information needed, but moderately threatened in California) in the California Rare Plant Ranking System. Plants listed as Rank 3 all lack enough information available to consider them rare (Rank 1B or 2B) or of limited distribution (Rank 4), but the information that is available indicates that they are in need of conservation. Once a plant has been determined to be Rank 3, the hope is that new information will be generated from additional surveys, which will allow for a reevaluation of the rank at a later time. Lewisia kelloggii ssp. kelloggii is found in openings and ridgetops of upper montane coniferous forest often in slate or sometimes in rhyolite tuff along the Sierras. It blooms from May through August with the occasional early bloom in April. Keep an eye out for this little gem when taking those summer hikes through the Sierras. Thank you, Ellen and Randy, for finding this amazing flower and adding to what we know about it!

Eumetopias jubatus – Steller (northern) sea lion
Submitted by Ryan Elliott of the California Natural Diversity Database

CNDDB’s very own Ryan Elliott was able to snap this awesome profile shot of a Steller sea lion at Cape Mendocino. Cape Mendocino is home to one of California’s largest breeding rookeries and has been active for over a century. The Steller sea lion was first described in 1741 by Georg Wilhelm Steller and therefore named after him. Steller sea lions spend most of their time in the water feeding, but haul-out onto rocks and shores to rest, reproduce, and raise their young. Their range spans from Japan to California and are split into two distinct population segments, eastern and western, at Cape Suckling in Alaska. California is home to the Eastern DPS which has seen major population declines due to intentional culling and commercial harvests. Currently, Steller sea lions are protected under both the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and are considered a California Species of Special Concern. The California Natural Diversity Database has 38 rookery and haul-out occurrences along the coast. Many thanks to Ryan for submitting this stellar observation!

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!

Photo credit: Margie Mulligan
(CC BY-NC 4.0) via iNaturalist

Earlier this year, a grass species thought to be extinct was rediscovered. Prairie false oat (Sphenopholis interrupta ssp. californica) was previously only known from two locations in Baja California, Mexico from the 1880s. It was rediscovered near Carlsbad, California by Jessie Vinje (with the Conservation Biology Institute) and Margie Mulligan (with the San Diego Natural History Museum) while doing population monitoring for San Diego thorn-mint (Acanthomintha ilicifolia). See this news article from the Conservation Biology Institute for additional information about this exciting discovery!

CNDDB is proud to maintain a comprehensive, robustly-catalogued archive of field survey forms, articles, reports, maps and other documents containing biogeographical data on species of special concern in California. But when we start digging into historical species locations, we often turn to other archives for additional information. Below is a short list of a few of our favorite resources. Some may be already familiar, but hopefully a few await your exploration. Happy hunting!

California State Library
The California State Library is housed in a beautiful neoclassical building adjacent to the State Capitol in Sacramento. In-person services are currently suspended during COVID-19, but meanwhile you can browse the State Library website. CSL has voluminous archives of scientific literature, making it a great resource to track down historical articles and books, and their online Ask-A-Librarian service is top notch. We’ve also been told they have a collection of over 5,000 historic maps. Though only state employees can check items out, anyone is welcome to browse on-site (or online).

Added bonus of visiting CSL in person—you might get to meet library service-dog-in-training Florence V!

MVZ Archives Field Notes collection
Sometimes you need more information about a historical specimen. Maybe you just want a glimpse into the epic history of scientific collecting. The Museum of Vertebrate Zoology keeps an online archive of digitized field notes from some of its most legendary curators and field biologists.

USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection
USGS’ Topo View online map viewer allows you to navigate and view all versions of topo maps available for any given location in the US, dating back to the 1800s. You can even download georeferenced images of the maps. It’s an essential tool for georeferencing historical specimens.

Biodiversity Heritage Library
BHL is an open-access digital archive of historical biodiversity literature, with contributors from around the globe. If you are tracing back the taxonomic history of a certain species, this is your go-to resource for finding articles across the centuries.

If the above resources don’t scratch your historical itch, here are some more CNDDB staff favorites:

• Botanist Willis Jepson’s field notebooks via UC Berkeley/Jepson Herbarium
• Calisphere (digitized documents, maps, photos, etc. from CA libraries)
• California Highways (routes, maps & history)
• Up and Down California blog (W.H. Brewer’s field notes from the Whitney Survey)
• Historic and Notable Bridges (Formerly known as uglybridges.com, we think)