Tarantula Maps?

[Colin D Wilson]

AS i view it, you have regions listed and then genus/species as entries below these regions meaning you would have to look through all the regions to find the spider you're looking for.
i would assume that many people would like to look through a list of alphabetised spider names, then get the region(s) from these.
Also you will have to add more regions for each spider in the finalised edition if it is to be definative i.e. G aureostriata (Schmidt & Bullmer, 2001) Argentina and Paraguay.

Other than that i like the idea !!!

[Stuart Common]

good suggestion Colin with the names rather than country, as for the G.aureostriata, I did only highlight Argentina to start as from what Ive been led to believe from the Spider Shop website was that there are a couple of colour variations, mine coming from Argentina with golden hairs, and the Paraguay one had more red hairs. The page is no longer available however it had a picture of each and there was definitelya difference between the two, I just hadnt got round to adding it as I got hungry

[Colin D Wilson]

as for the G.aureostriata, I did only highlight Argentina to start as from what Ive been led to believe from the Spider Shop website was that there are a couple of colour variations, mine coming from Argentina with golden hairs, and the Paraguay one had more red hairs.

Ah i see what you mean, they're still both G aureostriata though, the colour difference isn't "sub-species territory" it's just a slight difference in colour variation due to habital, region, temperature and humidity of environment etc.
There are going to be a few spiders that come from multiple regions, this is why i though searching by name would be a better option.

like i said at the end of the day it's not a bad idea of yours and will be helpfull to quite a few people for a quick reference.

(p.s. if you want the redder form, keep your's on darker substrate, slightly higher humidity and raise the temp a few degrees, within a few moults it will be starting to show brick red instead of ginger )

[Stuart Common]

(p.s. if you want the redder form, keep your's on darker substrate, slightly higher humidity and raise the temp a few degrees, within a few moults it will be starting to show brick red instead of ginger )

aha very interesting!

[Oli Dodds]

Hi
Sounds a really nice idea but I don't think it will take off like you hope it too unless you go out and take most, if not all the photos yourself.

Most people who go out to all the different places to find tarantulas are very protective of the locations of the different species that they find, and rightly so.
It takes a lot of time, planing and indeed money to visit these places, and I asure you that once there it is bloody hard work to find them. Even if you have the locations from someone else it is still not an easy ride but it does make things easier.
Most people who go out will and do share their information about locations to other people going out the same way, but before hand there are certain agreements that are made whether it be a shareing in any taken photos or a number of collected specimens, if they are collected etc etc (there are many things that could be asked in return).

There is also quite a large sigma or fear if you like, that if locations are posted willy nilly on an internet web site it is like a free for all for any would be Tom, Dick or Harry to go out a strip it for the pet trade, or more likely the dead insect trade, although I personely don't think either make as big an impact on populations as what is often suggested. But still I for one would not like to be the person to test this out.

Ok, so I now sound all negative and can already feel the replies from the idiot crowd about how tarantulas, or indeed any animal not being just yours to view in the wild, but should be made aviable to anyone who wishes to see them etc, etc, etc....well go sue me then go look yourself as I don't respect this opinion, so neither care about it, but here is an alternative:-

Maybe still do your world map but instead of exact locations on the map just do country of origin. Then you can use many photos of what is in the pet trade and you can also find out the information of county of origin quite easy by going to The World Spider Catalog web site.

I still think this would be a nice little project and could be useful to many if it is done in a good way.

Hope this helps
Chris

Im definatly with Chris on this one.

[Chris Sainsbury]

Hi
Just a quickie for us thickie computer users:-

How do you view the spider pics on that world map? I can view the land mark pics etc but not the spider ones?

Cheers
Chris

[Stuart Common]

ohh umm, I didnt add any photos yet

[Chris Sainsbury]

hahahahaha that would explain things then. Reason I asked is because of this:-

Great work in progress! The clarity of your pictures is stunning

Cheers
Chris

[Nicola Dolby]

Then why is it when I click onto your site all I get Is pics of tarantulas and a scorpion with a blog alongside? It is the www. thing at the end of your posts, yes?

[Colin D Wilson]

It's this link you need Nicola, it's half way down on the first page

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?hl=en&gl=uk&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=109445582910114085736.00044df5865797ee7e6e5

[Stuart Common]

ahh yes sorry Nicola thats my blog you were looking at, the map thing is as Colin has linked to which is seperate to it, thanks for looking

[Ray Hale]

Looks like a godd idea Stuart. Seek out The Tarantula ID Guide by Andrew Smith . Its an oldie but a golide that lists many species and their places of origin.

On another path, why not produce something for the journal. Something along the lines of

Species, Common name, Picture, Country of origin, ctc We could put in one genus an issue. Just a thought as not all of our members have the t'internet.

[Nicola Dolby]

Thanks Stuart,
I'll have a look on Tuesday as it keeps making the GPRS crash on my phone. Trust me to get the wrong webpage!
Also I think Ray's idea for the BTS journal is excellent, not only for beginners who will have the right info at their fingertips, but also people such as me who haven't a clue about some species. I'd love to know more about Iridiopelma and Chilobrachys (I feel sorry for you trying to get through the Haplopelma/Ornithoctonus lot though). Also it might be an idea to expand it to include all Ray said plus say a large paragraph on each species. That way people can build up a catalogue on the different tarantulas (this is starting to sound like those things you get in newspaper suppliments - "Get episode 2 next Sunday!") Anyway I still think its a good idea!

[Stuart Common]

Thanks Ray I'll hunt out that book or see if the library has / can get a copy, as for a non-internet version, I would think that once the information is all gathered it should be quite easy to convert it for paper (famous last words lol)