Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Spiders

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[edit] List of Salticidae species split

This article is the longest on WP and will be split into A-M and N-Z entries. Please add as you see fit. TrackerTV (CW|Castform|Green Valley) 03:21, 30 August 2006 (UTC)

The List of Linyphiidae species was also split. Please let's first consider if that's a good idea before going on like this. --Sarefo 12:14, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] List of Linyphiidae species

Hello. I know nothing about spiders other than that I don't like them, but I I have split List of Linyphiidae species into three articles rather than two. Before, the articles were among the longest on wikipedia. The articles are still way too long, over 100K, but are at least somewhat managable this way. --Descendall 02:08, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Project directory

Hello. The WikiProject Council has recently updated the Wikipedia:WikiProject Council/Directory. This new directory includes a variety of categories and subcategories which will, with luck, potentially draw new members to the projects who are interested in those specific subjects. Please review the directory and make any changes to the entries for your project that you see fit. There is also a directory of portals, at User:B2T2/Portal, listing all the existing portals. Feel free to add any of them to the portals or comments section of your entries in the directory. The three columns regarding assessment, peer review, and collaboration are included in the directory for both the use of the projects themselves and for that of others. Having such departments will allow a project to more quickly and easily identify its most important articles and its articles in greatest need of improvement. If you have not already done so, please consider whether your project would benefit from having departments which deal in these matters. It is my hope that all the changes to the directory can be finished by the first of next month. Please feel free to make any changes you see fit to the entries for your project before then. If you should have any questions regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you. B2T2 23:48, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Wikipedia:WikiProject_Spiders/Undetermined_pictures

Is it dead? Is there any other place where I could request help? -- Drini 23:05, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Proposed Veterinary medicine project

There is now a proposed project at Wikipedia:WikiProject Council/Proposals#Veterinary Medicine to deal with matters of veterinary medicine, a subject which currently has disproportionately low content in wikipedia. Any wikipedia editors who have an interest in working on content related to the subject are encouraged to indicate as much there. Thank you for your attention. Badbilltucker 22:09, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Name of a spider?

Does anyone know the name of a spider that is fuzzy, pretty small and maybe has a white dot that can be found in Oklahoma? I'm assuming they're harmless; I played with them a lot as a kid and -what do you know?- I'm not dead. Faustus Tacitus 05:19, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

I too live in Oklahoma and came into contact with this fuzzy white dotted critter this evening! It sent me into an intensive internet researching session! It took a bit of finger grease but I finally found the answer:

The (Bold/Daring) Jumping Spider - Phidippus Audax!

You can find some good photos at the following link under UNIDENTIFIED SPIDERS 2004 (2).

Look for the posting about 1/3rd of the way down under the entry by Sara Louise on 9 June, 2004:

Spider Photos 2004 (2)

There is also some good background info here:

Bold Jumping Spider or Phidippus Audax

Cheers! --MrNet 03:39, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Spiders in culture

Does this Wikiproject also tackles the role of spiders in culture (not in pop culture like comics and stuff)? I did one called Spider fighting-----Lenticel 02:32, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Latrodectus negros?

I came across the article Latrodectus negros recently. No mention of L. negros (or the more likely spelling L. nigrus) is made at Latrodectus or elsewhere. Can anyone confirm if this is a real spider, or if it is a hoax? --Stemonitis 10:49, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Tegenaria domestica

On the article's talk page, I brought up a point about changing the name of the article to Barn funnel weaver spider (currently a redirect), as that is what most of the articles on the spider that don't relate to the Hobo spider or pest control are calling it, including most of the entomology sites like Pennstate. Since finding one of these in my basement, having it identified, and researching it, I have become fascinated with it and have become dedicated to expanding and bettering that article on the amazing creature. DarthGriz98 14:50, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

I personally favor taxonomic names for spider pages. Vernacular names are not very useful in spiders (as opposed to birds, where they are mostly unambiguous). --Sarefo 11:57, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
Calling it Tegenaria domestica (rather than Domestic house spider) would be better yet, less confusion. Right now it's taxonomic name is a redirect to Domestic house spider. DarthGriz98 23:25, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Vandalism at black widow spider

The article black widow spider has been heavily targeted by vandals; I just reverted about two weeks worth of dubious edits. If someone feels portions of that add value, feel free to put it back. --EngineerScotty 23:23, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Information on specific spiders

Does anyone here know where I can find information on a specific species of spider? I have already tried Googling the name and reading what little was available. Are there places like specific arachnid laboratories or libraries that I can go to and find reference material? Thanks. -- VegitaU 22:53, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

my experience is that sometimes you can get good information, or hints where to find it, from several arachnologists around the world. However, there's usually some work to do before you find the right person. for example, if you know your species is a jumping spider, i would ask completely different persons than if it's a tarantula; also, sometimes it depends on the region where it was found. so, as a general hint, i would suggest to find out as much as possible about the species, then get a feeling who could be the best person to ask, then just ask. my experience is that arachnologists are very nice people, they will tell you if you should contact somebody else. in the future, such information should be available at the Encyclopedia of Life, but that will take some years to take form. right now, apart from Norman Platnick's World Spider Catalog, which has lots of references you can order in libraries, there's not too many centralized and public sites that i know of. hoped to help, leave me a note if you have any questions. --Sarefo 22:21, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] WP:TOL template

I'm working on a proposal to subsume all the WP:TOL project banners into a single one. Please see Wikipedia:WikiProject Tree of Life/Template union proposal and its talk page. Circeus 19:22, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Distribution maps!

We need distribution maps! I've little artistic talent, and I'm no spider expert, but is there any way I can help get distribution maps on the articles? The Jade Knight 11:26, 10 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Hasarius adansoni

This I can't publish since at present it's OR, but if somebody knows a source...
I'm presently taking care of a young female H. adansoni. I think it has not mated yet. However, she laid a clutch of about 6 eggs, at least 1 of which was fertile (it has hatched). I know that parthenogenesis may occur in some mygalomorphs, but I don't know whether it's known from salticids.
FWIW, I have not recorded the incubation time, but the young is now 4 days old, maybe 5, and still feeding on the yolk. Another clutch by a full-grown and fertilized female was about 12-15 eggs (Sarefo has a photo of this). Dysmorodrepanis 13:53, 28 July 2007 (UTC)

I got a second clutch of 5 eggs from this female, which has still not mated since. One egg (perhaps two) hatched after quite exactly 4 weeks at an ambient temperature between approx. 23 and 33 °C (wild weather this summer). I lost all young from the first clutch after cleaning, as I accidentally destroyed the hide and the young were attacked by the female thereafter. They apparently feed on the yolk for several weeks after hatching, during which time they keep in the hide and are brooded by the female. The spiderlings are c.1.8 millimeters at hatching. I'll pass them to Sarefo who should be able to get some photos. The clutch is deposited in a separate chamber in the hide; I have a photo of this (it's not very good but it should do) Dysmorodrepanis 11:07, 4 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Animals project proposal

I think it's both a pity and somewhat illogical that we have no animal WikiProject despite the fact that there are over 20 projects that are basically its daughters. There are also other projects that could emerge from it in the future, such as one on animal behavior. The project would provide a central place for people from all animal projects to talk, a central set of guidelines for articles on animals and zoology, and an assessment system for articles related to animals. If you are interested in creating such a project please visit Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Tree of life#Animals project to discuss. Richard001 08:49, 8 August 2007 (UTC)

The following projects would come under the parentage of this project:

[edit] Information

Hey, can anyone please tell me what types of spiders the following families are (hunting, web-spinning, etc.):

Thanks! --Sam Kay 06:40, 30 August 2007 (MDT)

hey, you got some pretty obscure spider families there :) sorry i don't have the time to check this up for you, but you may check out the respective wiki pages, and the superfamilies, and get some information from there. in the future, the family pages should contain this info, but at the moment i have other things to do, and there are not many people working on the spider pages. cheers :) --Sarefo 19:01, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Tarantula Page

I've decided to take on the mess that is the tarantula page. It's too long, full of buried vandalism, unreferenced, etc. I've pulled it into my sandbox to start. I'm putting in the wiki links and cleaning out unnecessary content, fixing style, etc, to start. I'll tackle the references after that. I've only gotten thru the first few sections but I'll keep cranking away. I'm being fairly aggressive so if anyone sees something that should be put back, let me know.

Anyway, the main reason I'm posting here is that the article review comments mention splitting up the body section. I'm not sure what to do there. I'm going to remove the taxonomy section because we have the list already. Should each section on the body just reference a main article? Thoughts? Anyone have a good model page that the tarantula page should be aspiring to? Aboverepine 19:07, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

thanks for cleaning that page up :) actually, there's not too much work being done on the spider pages sadly. i'm doing mostly taxonomy, and every now and then somebody else contributes a bit, but fact is we need everybody we can get :) my impression is that all the spider family pages are either too short or a bit messy, so maybe we'll take your cleaned out tarantula page as a template ;) btw, i personally recommend using references like this. it's possible to sort the refs this way, and it doesn't clog up the source.--Sarefo 12:15, 16 October 2007 (UTC)
I was actually coming here to see if anyone wanted to look at the tarantula page. It is rated "high importance" but is only a b-class article. It is probably one of the most visited spider pages there are and it is just kind of messy. I tried to do some generic "clean-up" edits, but I am no spider expert (I arrived there by clicking "Random Article")Anyway, I just wanted to offer a friendly reminder that the tarantula page needed some work.P337 (talk) 15:53, 24 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Evolutionary Benefit of Males Cannibalising Females?

Both males and females of the African jumping spider species can cannibalise their partner after copulation. "That equal opportunity behaviour extends to two-way cannibalism as well, with males consuming their loved ones only slightly more often as the reverse" (full article)

My question is - what evolutionary benefit does the male get by eating the female with whom he has just mated? Isn't he reducing his chances of passing on his genes?

Ajgaon 19:30, 25 September 2007 (UTC)ajgaon

None that I can see. Perhaps by eating the female, he kills of a weaker female, thus only the strongest females survive to give birth? Perhaps they like to 'hit and run!'. --81.77.217.161 18:37, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Huntsman Spiders in NZ?

I am a New Zealander and have never seen a Huntsman in NZ. I've seen plenty in Australia. You might want to check the accuracy of your information as I really do not think we have huntsmen here. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.3.72.67 (talk) 03:59, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

Just because you can't see a species doesn't mean it doesn't exist in the area. I've lived in PA all my life and find insects and spiders I've never seen before almost every time I go in the field for class. DarthGriz98 04:02, 4 October 2007 (UTC)
You're right, they're much more common in Australia. But there is one species of Sparassidae, Pandercetes peronianus which is the only one from New Zealand, and occurs only there; according to Norman Platnick's World Spider Catalog, which is the ultimate authority. he sometimes does not cite locations that are known, because he only checks published scientific papers on species, but when it's listed there it has been found there. of course, errors exist, but this one is fairly certain. the genus Pandercetes is quite spread, ranging from Vietnam and India to Australia. --Sarefo (talk) 00:07, 17 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Proposed change to Wikipedia:Naming conventions (fauna)

There is a current proposal to change an animal-related naming convention, which directly effects the the Manual of Style guideline, and the naming conventions policy. If you are interested, your input would be appreciated. Justin chat 06:32, 15 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Warning

Perhaps there should be some sort of noticeable warning on at least many of the spider pages. Many such pages have numerous images (many of which are rather detailed) and could cause a significant problem for arachnophobic visitors who accidentally stumble upon them. Medevilenemy (talk) 08:09, 22 December 2007 (UTC)

people with arachnophobia maybe should not visit pages about spiders ;) i once met a woman with a phobia against birds. are we supposed to create warnings on all the bird pages? btw, i work in the zoo on weekends, presenting bird spiders, and have learned that arachnophobia can be cured. spiders are for the very most part very nice animals (to humans, that is), and putting up a warning will imo only enforce the mislead notion that they are dangerous and best to be squashed. --Sarefo (talk) 17:03, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Fen raft spider or Great raft spider

I am just about to work on Great raft spider but have already encountered a problem, I do not like the title! I know it as the Fen raft spider, the IUCN lists it as Great, Fen has more google hits. Just asking here is there any standard on naming Spider articles? MortimerCat (talk) 11:11, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Genus renames

Hi spiderfolk, new user Vigilius got the idea of preemptively adding " (genus)" to a bunch of spider genera, including unambiguous names. Several hundred of them were changed, so you might want to consider a cooperative effort to change them all back. Stan (talk) 11:06, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Identifying spiders

This article is under Afd. See discussion here.--Lenticel (talk) 02:46, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

Also List of types of spiders proposed for deletion. Shyamal (talk) 10:14, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Need help identifying

A spider with a black body, large brown abdomen, bright green fangs, and white marking on its abdomen in the appearance of a face. Anyone know what it is? —Preceding unsigned comment added by WhiteChronoWolf (talk • contribs) 01:51, 14 June 2008 (UTC)