Add "collecting honeydew on" category

[GillesSanMartin]

Hello

Not sure this is the right place to ask this (please redirect me elsewhere in that case, with my apologies).

Would it be possible to add the category "collecting honeydew on" ?

Thanks

[jhpoelen]

Hi @GillesSanMartin - thanks for your question!

Could you give some examples of datasets or observations that describe organisms collecting honeydew ?

[GillesSanMartin]

Thanks for your quick feedback.

My question was in the framework of the automated collection of data for GLOBI from iNaturalist where this category already exists:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?verifiable=any&place_id=any&field:collecting%20honeydew%20on

So my request was just to add this category in the already existing mapping list (but maybe this can be considered to add a separate interaction type in GLOBI ?):
https://github.com/globalbioticinteractions/inaturalist/blob/main/interaction_types_mapping.csv

The peculiarity of this category is that some people use it to describe the plant on which some insects were "licking" honeydew of unknown origin, while others use it to describe the insect producing the honeydew (typically aphids).

There is also a kind of reverse category "Ant attending" that is already in the iNaturalist/GLOBI mapping csv file :
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?verifiable=any&place_id=any&field:Ant%20attending

[jhpoelen]

@GillesSanMartin thanks for clarifying and for sharing the example.

You mentioned:

The peculiarity of this category is that some people use it to describe the plant on which some insects were "licking" honeydew of unknown origin, while others use it to describe the insect producing the honeydew (typically aphids).

Would you happen to have one or two examples of the two categories? Also, are you in contact with the folks using this category?

[GillesSanMartin]

Examples of honeydew collection on the insect :
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/309330709
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/190828513
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/140554543
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/204963062

Examples of honewdew "licked" from a plant :
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/298654201
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/295346301
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/291190964

I'm not in touch with other people using this category, unfortunately.
I used it myself for examples here :
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/309330709
And I intend to use it more in the future, for example, on this observation, once I have prepared and identified the scale insect :
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/308569027

In these examples, I have seen people using the category "interaction->mutualism with", which is probably a good alternative

[jhpoelen]

Thanks again for sharing. I've added an initial mapping of the honeydew eating association as:

provided_interaction_type_label  collecting honeydew on
provided_interaction_type_id     https://www.inaturalist.org/observation_fields/17118
mapped_to_interaction_type_label mutualistically interacts with
mapped_to_interaction_type_id    http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/RO_0002442

I do realize this mapping is not perfect.

Perhaps this is more of an habitat thing -

insect X ate honeydew excreted by insect Y on stem/leaf of plant Z .

where insect Y is often unknown/unseen

Curious to hear your thoughts on how to proceed.

PS Thanks for being patient for letting the mapping to propagate into GloBI's search indexes.

[GillesSanMartin]

That looks perfect ! Thanks a lot !
I think the most frequent interactions will be X vs Y and Y vs Z, and that X vs Z is indeed an exception and more of a habitat thing