CNDDB News Blog

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)

Campanula shetleri – Castle Crags harebell
Submitted by Steve Matson

This California endemic was found by Steve Matson in Siskiyou County. Campanula shetleri was originally listed in 1974 and was considered to occur in small numbers or in restricted populations. It is currently ranked as 1B.3 (rare or endangered in California and everywhere else, but not very endangered in California) in the California Rare Plant Ranking system. It is found in rock crevices in Lower montane coniferous forests within the Klamath Ranges. It blooms from June through September bringing some color into the late summer. The flower can range in color from a pale blue to completely white, with the one pictured here falling on the blue end of the scale. Thank you, Steve, for sharing this amazing find, and everything you do to protect our California rare plants!

Anaxyrus canorus – Yosemite toad
Submitted by Noah Morales

Noah came upon a large group of Yosemite toads and was able to catch this one relaxing in a grassy area near Sardine Meadow in Mono county. Yosemite toads are one of four true toad species the CNDDB tracks. They are endemic to California and reside in high elevations throughout the Sierra Nevada in forest borders and moist mountain meadows. The Yosemite toad takes on the classic toad appearance with its stocky body and warty skin. They are slow moving with motions limited to crawls and short hops. Because of this less than ideal movement efficiency, Yosemite toads secrete poison from their parotoid glands and warts to defend themselves! These toads have faced many factors contributing to their decline such as habitat degradation, invasive fishes, drought, and disease. Studies show Yosemite toads are no longer present in about half of their native range and populations are declining. In 2016, the USFWS designated almost 1.8 million acres of protected critical habitat for the Yosemite toad and other high elevation amphibians in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Currently, the CNDDB has 223 mapped occurrences for Yosemite toad spanning through the Sierra Nevada. A big thank you to Noah for snapping a photo of this tiny, but mighty species!

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!