New method for semi-automatic screening and identification of Solenopsis invicta
A new paper proposes a novel method for automated screening of the Red Imported Fire Ant.
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Google Scholar and Biodiversity Heritage Library functionality added
New modules for Google Scholar and the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) have been added to the Antkey site. Now when users go to taxon pages and click on the 'literature' tab, dynamic search results for that species from Google Scholar and BHL will be presented at the bottom of the page.
Increases in crop pests caused by Wasmannia auropunctata in Solomon Islands subsistence gardens
A new paper on how Wasmannia auropunctata causes increases in crop pests in Solomon Island subsistence gardens.
New paper on Pachycondyla sennaarensis
James Wetterer continues his excellent series on tramp ants with the samsum or sword ant, Pachycondyla sennaarensis." The species has not been reported in North America, but it sounds like it should be on the watch list.
Antweb module now working
Go to a species page, click the media tab, and you'll now see all the Antweb specimen images for that species with a link to the original specimen page (e.g. http://antkey.org/taxonomy/term/4807/media). One great thing about the Drupal-driven Scratchpads platform is that developers can contribute custom 'modules' that can plug in to the core code..
Links to Antweb and Antwiki added to all species descriptions
Antweb and Antwiki both have some excellent content, including species pages, maps, specimen images and literature. In order to make end-users aware of these pages, I added a new field in the taxon description content type called 'external links'. Now when the description tab is opened for a given species, links to that species respective pages on Antweb and Antwiki appear...
Glossary illustration update
The glossary module has been updated to allow multiple thumbnail images per term to be displayed, and for the thumbnails to link to colorboxes. I'm still working on getting the colorboxes to display additional metadata such as the description and keywords...
Specimen mapping now available
Specimens with associated georeferenced location nodes are now dynamically mapped on the species pages. The mapping feature of Scratchpads is very nice. The Google maps are elegant, and the placemarks for specimen localities display nicely. The different colors bring focus to each locality, and the 'cluster placemarks' show regions where high densities of specimens have been recorded. Clicking on these cluster icons will zoom you in close enough to where individual placemarks or (additional cluster placemarks) segregate from each other...
Glossary illustrations
A major breakthrough took place today on the glossary illustrations. I was able to successfully import all the relevant media files into the glossary taxonomy. As of today, there are 436 glossary terms, of which 349 are illustrated.
Development plan for the future
I put together some of the current and future development plans for the site in a new 'development plan' forum. Partly this was to demonstrate the work that can still be done, and partly this was just to have a place to organize and keep track of development priorities. I'm not convinced the forum is the best place for it, but until we think of something better, it will have to do. Here's the plan thus far.