How to Participate
Images • Visitor Comments • Species Descriptions • Contribute Collection Data
For Curators • Geocoding • Data Fields
First, if you may wish to learn how data and links are widely distributed among various International biodiversity initiatives, thus ensuring recognition for your efforts.
Habitus, Palp, & Epigyna Images |
If you have taxonomically useful and high-quality images of spiders or their palps or epigyna, send these to the administrator, David P. Shorthouse (dshorthouse(at)eol.org). Image gadgets (example HERE) permit the distribution of your images while retaining the credit you specify. Images are always gratefully received. |
Visitor
Comments About Species |
Visitors to individual species descriptions pages are welcome to leave comments about the page, observations about the species, or sighting reports. These sorts of comments help contribute to our understanding of distribution and natural history even when a specimen is not available for verification. Toward the top right of each species page is a speech balloon like the one shown at left where you may access the comments form. Each species' comments are syndicated with an RSS feed (example HERE). |
| Authoring
/ Reviewing Species Descriptions  |
Submitting and reviewing species descriptions are purely voluntary and
accomplished using a very easy to use, web-based interface.
Reviewers will not receive email reminders or solicitations. For a
demonstration of the author's form, click the button at left. Maps,
charts, nomenclature, and taxonomic references are automatically
provided for each description when these are available. If you wish to
contribute or review species
descriptions, create an account.
Requirements: Permission to contribute is based on evidence of scholarly activity related to Nearctic spiders. Unlike a wiki (e.g. wikipedia), this restriction ensures accurate content that can be properly credited and safely cited. If you already have an account and wish to contribute, log on to your account and select the checkbox toward the bottom of the "Update Profile" section. Be certain to include a list of your publications or creative works in your profile. |
Collection Data (37 KB)  (9 min) |
Click the icon at left to download a sample Excel 97-2003 file, which may be of use if you do not yet have specimens recorded in a digital format. A system to permit batch upload and manipulation of your collection records
in any form (*.csv, tab-delimited *.txt, or Excel) is under development but will soon be completed. The only requirement is an account and data roughly in the format described below under the heading "Fields Used in The Nearctic Spider Database".
You may also watch a screencast about the online data management application or take it for a test-drive by clicking the film reel icon or "Live Demo" button at left, respectively. The interface includes many data integrity and nomenclatural functions and also permits live editing with downloads should you choose to use it instead of your own software. Permissions may also be managed via your account such that more than one individual can enter data. If you are already a GBIF provider via DiGIR, please inform the database manager of your access point such that your data can be programmatically added to the Nearctic Spider Database. |
For Curators (35 KB) |
If you are a curator or an assistant curator at a large museum and receive many requests for specimen loans, try this time-saver. Download the PDF document at left, print several copies, cut up the small flyers and insert them in your outgoing shipments. Leave it up to borrowers to contribute and later browse your data for your own purposes. Institution and individual holdings are publicly accessible as a list and you may also use the data management application from your account profile to check for errors and download all as text or Excel files. You may also request customized outputs by contacting David P. Shorthouse (dshorthouse(at)eol.org). |
Geocoding |
Click the button at left to search for
Provincial and State localities and obtain their geographical
coordinates in
decimal degrees. This tool can be used as a simplified gazetteer for
geo-referencing specimen labels and is also directly accessible from the data management application. A link to an Excel spreadsheet that transforms
UTM coordinates to decimal degrees in batches and a Google Map Geocoder
are also available to assist with geo-referencing locality information. |
Fields Used in The Nearctic Spider Database
The following fields are Darwin Core 2 with the exception of AdultMale, AdultFemale, and Immature, which contain the numbers of these individuals. While Darwin Core 2 fields are excellent for most biological collections, they often do not work for spider collections because vials (catalogs) may contain variable numbers of individuals of both sexes. Consequently, GBIF receives a summation of AdultMale, AdultFemale, and Immature called IndividualCount.
| Field | Description |
| Record | Record Number. Automatically and incrementally filled and cannot be manually adjusted (REQUIRED) |
| InstitutionCode | A "standard" code identifier, often called the coden, that identifies the institution. Personal collections must also have a 3- or 4-letter code, but this may be created. This field is optional, but a catalog will not be visible on The Nearctic Spider Database website until the database manager is informed of the InstitutionCode and of the name and email address for the curator or contact responsible for catalog retrieval (OPTIONAL) |
| CollectionCode | An alphanumeric value that identifies the collection within the institution (OPTIONAL) |
| CatalogNumber | A unique alphanumeric value that identifies an individual record within the collection. This is equivalent to a unique voucher record or the code required to retrieve the catalog. Records with duplicate or empty CatalogNumber are not queried by GBIF/CBIF (OPTIONAL) |
| Genus | Genus (e.g. Ozyptila) |
| Species | Specific epithet. Must also include sub/infraspecies when present and known (e.g. sincera canadensis) |
| Author | The author(s) of the species without brackets even if this would normally be the accepted format (e.g. Dondale & Redner) |
| AuthorYear | The year the species was described by the author(s) in full (e.g. 1975). Genus, Species, Author, and AuthorYear must all contain recognized combinations for The Nearctic Spider Database website to display the catalog or for the catalog to be included in searches and species lists. |
| Country | The country or major political unit from which the specimen was collected. ISO 3166-1 values should be used (e.g. United States) (OPTIONAL) |
| StateProvince | The State or Province in full without abbreviation where the specimen was collected (e.g. Wyoming) (OPTIONAL) |
| County | If such a field exists in the record (e.g. Johnson) (OPTIONAL) |
| Locality | Locality within the State or Province where the specimen was collected (e.g. Saddlestring) (OPTIONAL) |
| Latitude | In decimal degrees under the WGS-84 datum (e.g. 44.455) (OPTIONAL) |
| Longitude | In decimal degrees under the WGS-84 datum and must be a negative value in the Western Hemisphere (e.g. -106.896667) (OPTIONAL) |
| Habitat | Brief (<255 character) description of the habitat in which the specimen was collected (OPTIONAL) |
| CollectionMethod | Brief (<255 character) description of the collecting method (OPTIONAL) |
| Collector | The name(s) of the collector(s) responsible for collecting the specimen or taking the observation (e.g. D. Buckle) (OPTIONAL) |
| DateCollectedStart | The first date from the range of dates the specimen was collected in Short format (e.g. 6/19/1974) or Medium format (e.g. 19-Jun-1974). In case of no range of dates, this is the default while DateCollectedEnd remains empty. (OPTIONAL) |
| DateCollectedEnd | The last date from the range of dates the specimen was collected in short format (e.g. 6/25/1974) or Medium format (e.g. 25-Jun-1974) (OPTIONAL) |
| TimeofDay | In decimal format (e.g. 1:30PM = 13.5 or 4:46PM = 16.77). Used primarily for active collecting methods such as sweeping or hand collecting. In these cases, the contents of DateCollectedEnd would not likely be filled (OPTIONAL) |
| IdentifiedBy | The name(s) of the person(s) who applied the scientific name to the catalogued item (e.g. D. Buckle) (REQUIRED) |
| YearIdentified | The year the specimen was identified in full (e.g. 1974) (OPTIONAL) |
| TypeStatus | Indicates the kind of nomenclatural type that a specimen represents (e.g. holotype) (OPTIONAL) |
| AdultMale | Number of adult males within current catalog (OPTIONAL) |
| AdultFemale | Number of adult females within current catalog (OPTIONAL) |
| Immature | Number of immatures within current catalog (OPTIONAL) |
| Notes | Free-form field to include anything about the specimen. For example, if the specimen received additional verification or if the full collection date is not known, these details may be added here. Reference(s) to direct the visitor to publication(s) where the specimen has been listed may also be included (OPTIONAL) |
| TimeStamp | Automatic timestamp for when the record was entered or modified. Cannot be manually adjusted and is automatically applied (REQUIRED) |
| EnteredBy | Individual that entered the record into the database. Retrieved from account and automatically applied (REQUIRED) |