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Why Participate?

  There is a bewildering number of biodiversity databases, portals, and web pages and more appear online every day. What sets this one apart and what value does the Nearctic Spider Database provide? The two most important characteristics of the present database is its implicit reliance on good and current taxonomy and its community-driven focus. As new species are discovered and described and as groups receive taxonomic revision, these changes are documented in the World Spider Catalog and very quickly implemented in the Nearctic Spider Database. The linkages to old names are retained, thus permitting accurate compilations of species lists and collection maps. The combination of its name server-like quality and its simple, though powerful mapping technologies permit the Nearctic Spider Database to stand out from large-scale, "all-taxa" initiatives, which in many cases cannot cope with very challenging taxonomic issues. The Nearctic Spider Database is a taxonomically-based bridge between collectors, curators, or anyone with an interest in spiders and many of these large-scale database initiatives. The former receive the benefits of simple navigation and a central store and the latter can be assured that data are well-formed and accurate. 

Value for Museum Curators

Value for Private Collectors

  • Valuable, data integrity functions (e.g. nomenclatural searches, mapping records, duplicate record checks, and the production of species lists using current nomenclature). (DEMO and Screencast)

Value for Spider Systematists & Students

  • Rapid specimen search across contributing institutions
  • Rapid communication with museum curators and private collectors via well-formed email inquiries
  • Peer-reviewed species pages with all references since original description, images of habitus, palp, and epigynum, and general natural history information (example)

Value for Natural Historians

  • Species lists and collection maps that can be manipulated and searched across any region at any geographic scale
  • Comment on individual species pages and submit observations or sightings

Value for Educators

  • Image galleries of species organized in numerous ways to assist with spider identification
  • Demonstrate the utility and dynamic nature of biodiversity databases, which are never complete