Nearctic Arachnologists' Discussion

New Literature & Reviews :: Arachnologist on Comedy Central

Author: Kevin Pfeiffer
Subject: Arachnologist on Comedy Central
Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 5:49 pm (GMT 0)
Topic Replies: 0

In the category of "event" (sort of), I received this yesterday from the AAS:
Dear AAS Member,

Those who attended the AAS meeting at Berkeley last week may have noted the absence of Dr. Jason Bond. Those who wish to know what he was up to should follow this link.

Nearctic Spider Database :: RE: Male/female designation for habitus images?

Author: Kevin Pfeiffer
Subject: Re:
Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 3:56 pm (GMT 0)
Topic Replies: 3

David Shorthouse wrote:

There are about 4,500 species and only about 600 images in total. So, when the latter reach about 2,000 or so, I'll consider reworking the database to support more rich metadata for individual images. At about that time, I'll have some serious juggling to do anyway because there will be some species concept / image mismatches judging by the number of phylogenetic papers at the recent AAS meeting - there will soon be some serious juggling, splitting, and lumping and this activity will more than likely break our current understanding of what image goes with what species.

I'm all for richer metadata on the images (including some EXIF data, if possible). But your last sentence sounds even more tantalizing. How/where does this information come out then? Will the proceedings be published somewhere? It sounds like you are busier than ever, but perhaps on one of your long plane rides ("geobusiness class", of course) you could write down some of the highlights from the AAS conference? (it never hurts to ask)

-Kevin

Nearctic Spider Database :: RE: Problem genera and the Database

Author: David Shorthouse
Subject:
Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 2:52 am (GMT 0)
Topic Replies: 1

I don't think there's an easy answer here. Yes, I can probably rework the database structure/presentation to include generic-level recognition. But, that essentially means having Genus pages in addition to species pages. Plus, the current species-level maps are on-the-fly "mapping" of specimen nomenclature through a chresonym/synonym table onto a current nomenclature table. Updating the nomenclature and classification is a significantly greater problem and takes a long time...I'm still a version behind the World Spider Catalog because I haven't yet put aside the 3-4 solid days of intense concentration it takes. Plus, I'm not sure how the nomenclatural considerations and programming would work with genus-level "mapping" of names. I wouldn't be able to separate an identification in process from one that will never be identified. The best I have been able to come up with is this: http://www.canadianarachnology.org/data/canada_spiders/SpecimenListsUnknown.asp (which could arguably be reworked to be more useful).

As for Ummidia sp., there are only 20 records from the CUAC and none of these are geocoded. So, even if I did open up genus pages and genus maps, we'd still have nothing on them.
_________________
David Shorthouse (Forum Administrator)

Nearctic Spider Database :: RE: Male/female designation for habitus images?

Author: David Shorthouse
Subject:
Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 2:43 am (GMT 0)
Topic Replies: 3

Kevin,

Yes, I admit this is a bit of shortcoming. I was more interested in getting specimen data and any image that could be representative of any particular species. So, two habitus, one palp, and one epigynum is all I have sought to find in the way of images. In the case of the two habitus, I try to represent a male and a female when I can find them, but I don't code these as such. Instead, I was more interested in providing something rather than nothing. There are about 4,500 species and only about 600 images in total. So, when the latter reach about 2,000 or so, I'll consider reworking the database to support more rich metadata for individual images. At about that time, I'll have some serious juggling to do anyway because there will be some species concept / image mismatches judging by the number of phylogenetic papers at the recent AAS meeting - there will soon be some serious juggling, splitting, and lumping and this activity will more than likely break our current understanding of what image goes with what species.
_________________
David Shorthouse (Forum Administrator)

Nearctic Spider Database :: Problem genera and the Database

Author: Kevin Pfeiffer
Subject: Problem genera and the Database
Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 1:39 am (GMT 0)
Topic Replies: 1

What can be done -- should something be done -- about problem genera such as Ummidia? Very few, if any, of these specimens are identified (identifiable?) to the species level; consequently the database shows no collection data -- neither collection location nor collections containing them.

Might there be a way to also include "Genus sp." specimens? Perhaps a checkbox labelled "Include genus-level specimens" that "softens" the search criteria to also include these for distribution maps, collection info, etc.? It would be nice, for example, to see who has collected Ummidia where. Or is this a bad idea??

-Kevin