User:Invertzoo


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This editor is a Looshpah Laureate of the Encyclopedia and is entitled to display this Book of All Knowledge with Secret Appendix, Errata Sheet, and Author's Signature.

This is Invertzoo (Susan J. Hewitt)'s user page on the English language Wikipedia. My user name reflects a life-long interest in invertebrate zoology. I am a citizen scientist, a naturalist, specifically a serious amateur malacologist; I have 60 published scientific papers. Some people call me "The Snail Lady", or "The Shell Lady". Since 2014 I have been very active as both an observer and identifier on the global citizen science platform iNaturalist, https://www.inaturalist.org/people/50920.

Here is a Wikipedia fund-raising video that featured me: https://en.wikipedia.orgview_image.php?q=User:Invertzoo&sq=&lang=&file=File:What%27s_a_Love_Dart%3F.webm

I am interested in all mollusks, and indeed in all of nature. I am happiest on some far-flung island in the tropics, with my field notebook and backpack of collecting equipment, sitting on a flat sandy beach on a rocky bay with a coral reef, on a calm day after stormy weather. I live in NYC. I am a Volunteer Emeritus at AMNH where I worked starting in 1999, first in Malacology and then in Invertebrate Paleontology.

Here on Wikipedia I have enjoyed research, writing, re-writing, improving prose, clarifying, organizing, and adding images to articles. I believe that Wikilove, aka Aloha, is a very important concept here. ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

I don't relish routine cleanup on thousands of stub articles, but I have done a great deal of that.

I was born in and lived the first half of my life in England, and after that in the USA, first on the West Coast and then on the East Coast. Every year since 1991 I have visited the Lesser Antilles, West Indies, where I am currently investigating the marine mollusk fauna of several of the Leeward Islands, especially  Saint Kitts and Nevis.

I started here in the summer of 2007. I have given over 100 images to Wikimedia Commons. My Meta account is here. I have made over 89,000 edits, all by hand (none by automated software). During March 2010 I was number 317 on the Wikipedia:List of Wikipedians by number of recent edits, (and a much higher rank if you don't count the bots and the sysops.) By February 2013, I was number 401 by total number of edits: [1] And... yes, I am well aware that editcountitis is a serious disease! [2].

The first time that I had the pleasure and honor of meeting HRH Jimmy Wales, our handsome and somewhat mysterious founder, was at the first Wiki-Conference New York, 25th July 2009, where I gave a talk on the growth and development of Wikipedia:WikiProject Gastropods. I also conversed with Mr. Wales on Oct 6th and 7th, 2010. I saw Jimmy, but did not get the chance to talk to him, at the Wikipedia Spring Fundraising Party in NYC, on April 19 2017.

My user page is long, so you are welcome to ignore it, or only look at the sections you are interested in.

Best wishes to you all, Invertzoo (talk).