another gallery maybe?

[wayne balcombe]

Hi all,

I thought it maybe an idea to start a Spermathecae gallery as a reference tool and also help out when it comes to attempting to identify some of the unknown additions to our collections.

I imagine it could be started as a normal thread on here and stickied so its always there at the top, members would then be able to post any pictures they have of Spermathecae they have managed to capture along with the scientific and common name of the spider it belongs to.

I'm still getting to grips with my camera and digi microscope but i've taken a couple i could add and i'm sure many other members could also contribute to the education of the masses.

Is this a realistic idea?

What do you all think?

[Colin D Wilson]

Not a bad idea Wayne, a few other sites have either started one off or have thought about it. we have a theraphosid gallery and occasionally spermatecae images are included in this.

I think with general members posting images, however, the main problem we would have is the positive ID of the species as there are several misidentified species out there as you know, plus individuals are moved from genus to genus and species renamed often. The spermatecae images in the gallery are uploaded by members who have experience in taxonomy and can comfirm (to the latest revision) the genus and species.
Maybe one idea could be for members to upload (for moderation by theraphosid gallery members) their images and Mark could add an area in the forum for this purpose, after that the image could be moved to the relevant area of the gallery.

Ideas are what makes the society go from strength to strength and members should not be too shy as to post their ideas as sometimes a whole "sticky problem" becomes unravelled this way.

Hopefully we'll have a reply to this from the "elders" with an idea to its ease of implication

[wayne balcombe]

The ease of implication was one of the worries i had when i thought of the idea as i know how busy the admin are and the potential time it could take to set it up and have the imiges "screened" for accuracy of identification when they had been added. I look forward to hearing from Mark on this point.

I do believe if this is done whchever way it works best, and members contribute, it will be an extremely useful tool and even if the identification of species is dificult this way it will still stand as an educational reference point.

[Colin D Wilson]

I do believe if this is done whchever way it works best, and members contribute, it will be an extremely useful tool and even if the identification of species is dificult this way it will still stand as an educational reference point.

Agreed, once it's got over the sudden influx of images it shouldn't take too much time to go through the process for the odd one or two coming in (dependent on the spare time available from the gallery teams and admins busy schedules of course)