Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Arthropods/Archive 1

message: Dear IronChris,
It's interesting work you seem to be doing here. You should probably involve a few people here since this appears to another colossal wikitask. You need 'distributed wiki'ing. :)
Do visit the List of Butterflies of India (Papilionidae) which I am steward of. This a part of a larger effort, List of Butterflies of India. This 'project' is being developed basically by User:Shyamal, User:VirenVaz and me (User:AshLin).
Do leave your comments on any of our talk pages. I would be grateful if you would ask us to do the modifications suggested rather than do them yourself since we are talking of a canvas of over a thousand species.
The project is in its relative infancy, but we are adding three to ten wikipages a week. The ButterflyIndia yahoo group and Tekdi Eco Portal have been contacted and people have not only promised us images, but, we are trying to synergise the three as follows :-
* Wikipedia - The reference or field identification guide.
* Tekdi Eco Portal - The field notebook.
* ButterflyIndia - the discussion group.
Thought you'd like to know what part of wikilife you inadvertantly entered when you placed a cleanup tag on Iphiclides.
Regards,AshLin 04:17, 11 April 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: An Indian Wiki effort on Lepidoptera

message: I have removed the link to Wikipedia:WikiProject Birds#Bird names and article titles. The situation for birds is very different from that for arthropods. Most arthropods don't have common names (most probably haven't got scientific names yet, but that's another issue), and those common names that do exist are not regulated by any body. Ornithologists like to capitalise common names, for which there is no need and no significant tradition in invertebrates. I have gone through all arthropod groups in the last few months and standardised the capitalisation within each group; only Odonata and Lepidoptera had a majority capitalised (and we may even want to change that). All the others (i.e. all crustaceans, all arachnid, all other insect orders, including species-rich orders such as flies and beetles) use lower case, and consistently so. I have therefore imported the text from WP:TOL, with changes to reflect the exceptional upper-case taxa mentioned above, and to make is arthropod-specific. --Stemonitis 07:31, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Names and titles 

message: I have gone through the usual process to propose a new stub, and there has been no objection to the creation of a  template. This would be useful for all Arthropods that don't have a precise stub at the moment besides the ; namely every stub that doesn't fit into a ,  or  category. There is a list of some 50 odd such articles here.
The problem now is to find a suitable picture for the stub-template. I don't think we will be able to find a "general arthropod" picture small enough (and recognisable enough), so we'll probably have to settle for a more specific picture. I was thinking of using this spider picture, but changing the background to white. I would have largely preferred a horseshoe crab or pycnogonid picture, but I didn't find one that might fit the requirements. If you happen to find a good picture rather characteristic of arthropods, and that would still be recognisable at a small size, please tell me. --IronChris  |  (talk) 03:12, 20 April 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: They don't need to have a picture, you know… It's probably more important to have it up and running than to worry about its precise appearance. The spider's probably out anyway, because it wouldn't be covered by . I also couldn't find a good millipede or centipede. Perhaps something based on :Image:Protura-sp.gif? --Stemonitis 07:55, 20 April 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Ok, the stub has been created, along with the corresponding category. I used the picture you suggested. It might need some editing as it's not great at the moment, but it'll do until then. I was wondering if the :Category:Insect stubs, :Category:Arachnid stubs and :Category:Crustacean stubs should be moved to the :Category:Arthropod stubs from their present location, :Category:Invertebrate stubs. It's what seems logical, but I was wondering if that would disrupt anything. Thanks for the help Stemonitis, it is greatly appreciated. IronChris  |  (talk) 15:47, 20 April 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Arthropods stub 

message: Dear Chris,
Firstly, I feel that we need to have our very own sections which are mentioned above. At first, you can take a 'cut and paste' and modify it by changing the examples. Then and then alone can our thoughts on these issues develop and interested people like User:Stemonitis get a canvas to work on. I stand by his ideas and need for own focus on Arthropods. We can't progress these aspects without our very own place to wiki-edit. I would do it if I had a good overview of arthropods but I don't, I'm on learning mode ihere.
Secondly, I am looking for guidelines to make a descendant project - a 'To Do' list or 'criteria' or even thoughts on the same in a separate para, sub-section, or, better still, a page of it's own would help.
Thirdly, do enlighten us about the relation, co-relation, or lack of it, between our Wikipedia encyclopedic articles and the Wikispecies effort.
Fourthly, can you 'map' the arthropods in some interesting way so that we can enter the world of Arthropods through your wikipage, though, I know that's not a purpose of the page. Is there a good way already existing?
Regards, AshLin 02:10, 23 April 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: A little note on Wikispecies: Wikispecies is a taxonomic only project. It aims to record all known species with their taxonomical information, a photo (if possible) and vernacular names. No other information (ecology, distribution, etc.) is included. It's a simple census project. See for example the Iphiclides podalirius article. You may find more information on meta:Wikispecies and meta:Wikispecies FAQ. It still needs a lot of work, so when you have time I encourage you (and anyone) to help out. There is to date no formal cooperation, it is simply a sister project of the Wikipedia. Regards,IronChris  |  (talk) 01:01, 24 April 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Our own sections on '''Structure''' and '''Criteria for Inclusion''', and, other thoughts

message: Dear Chris,
I must say, that was fast. Almost all that I asked for just a few hours ago is already done! Let me do my bit too.
So here goes, I've created a Draft Guidelines for Categorisation of Articles on 'Butterflies'. For comments please.
I've already started cleaning up the awful mess in category 'Butterflies' based on these guidelines. Don't believe me about the 'Mess'? See 'Butterfly stubs' and ye shall believe! I've about five to six hundred stubs to add and we can't have them blocking access to users getting the right information. So could'nt wait for consensus. We can always execute out the modifications later.
I've tried to make the guidelines as logical, consistent and practical as possible. The guidelines are being linked on each really important category page, ie 'Butterflies' and each family category page, for users to understand.
After categories, will prepare a draft policy for redirects, based on your already quite comprehensive' guidelines.
Regards. AshLin 19:33, 23 April 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Quickdraw McGraw!

message: I have started an article for the wing on one of my subpages. Please check it out : User:IronChris/Insect wing. It'll be ready for release soon, and I will move it to its permanent location. I wasn't very sure about a number of things, among which were:
*the structure of the article (headings, etc.)
*the language used (coleoptera, diptera vs. beetles, flies, or exoskeleton vs. body wall for example),
so if you have time I'd be greatful for a little check up. I'll post again once it's finished. IronChris  |  (talk) 18:26, 28 April 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I have moved the page to insect wing. There's still a lot that can be added though! IronChris  |  (talk) 17:44, 29 April 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Insect wing

message: I found this photo on the Wikimedia commons. Does anyone have an idea what it is? I'd propose a beetle larva, but I can't be more precise. If you have any pictures of unidentified arthropods you can post them here in the hope that someone can help! IronChris  |  (talk) 01:41, 30 April 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I would also guess at a beetle larva. My best guess would be Dermestes, a cosmopolitan household commensal. --Stemonitis 12:10, 4 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Unidentified arthropod 

message: For those who aren't keeping a close eye on the biology portal, there has been a proposition for a biology barnstar. A vote is currently taking place at Wikipedia:Barnstar_and_award_proposals#Nature-related_Barnstar to see if it gets much support. If you have an opinion, please consider dropping a note there. I personnaly think that it would be a good idea, the only barnstar there is at the moment for all of science is the The E=MC² Barnstar. Cheers! IronChris  |  (talk) 15:13, 1 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Biology barnstar 

message: Nice quote you posted on the page.  think it really sums up the arthropod positions. Here's another for you although a little insect biased i'm afraid  :)
In an apocryphal story, a colleague once turned to the great British geneticist J. B. S. Haldane, and said, "Tell me, Mr. Haldane, knowing what you do about nature, what can you tell me about God?" Haldane thought for a while and replied, "He has an inordinate fondness for beetles."
Goldfinger820 23:52, 4 May 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Nice one! Maybe we could open a quotes section (or subpage, the main page is getting a bit long)... Or just post them here, on the talk page. IronChris  |  (talk) 18:51, 8 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Quote suggestions

message: Wonder if someone can identify this further ?
Shyamal 12:00, 15 May 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I've gone ahead and created a page for this family, using this photo. Dyanega 17:10, 2 June 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Leaf insect species Id 

message: I'm more a user of this project than a participant, but I'd really like to see more photographs of caterpillars and other larvae posted along with the usual photographs of instars. --arkuat (talk) 03:47, 19 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Pictures of both larvae and instars for holometabolous species 

message: Dear all: I feel uncomfortable about the Xiphosura entry being only a redirect to Limulidae, a bold decision recently taken by one of us. After all, it is a whole class of Chelicerata, very useful for understanding the phylogeny of the group. Should we just ignore the fossil groups? Maybe we could create again a complete (non-redirect) page emphasizing that most members are extinct and containing a link to the Limulidae. Usage of Merostomata, although still present in textbooks, has been discontinued since the 1980s, when it was demonstrated its non-monophyly (e.g. Boudreaux, 1979; Weygoldt, 1986). I strongly advise for the replacement of Merostomata (make it a redirect) by the correct Xiphosura + Eurypterida (and even Chasmataspida?) classes and for the reinstallment of a full Xiphosura entry. Let me know what you think. Cheers. Vae victis 11:23, 21 May 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I'm not familiar with the taxonomy of these creatures (what are we supposed to call them now that the term Merostomata has been disproved?), but I agree with your proposition. Fossil records should not be overlooked. We should keep the Merostomata article (not redirect it) but make it clear that the term is no longer used and give links to the new classification (Xiphosura and Eurypterida). IronChris  |  (talk) 18:03, 21 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Merostomata and Xiphosura

message: After initial reluctance, much thought and weighing the pros and cons, we (Shyamal, Viren and AshLin) have decided to undertake WikiProject Lepidoptera as a daughter project of WikiProject Arthropods. Since it doesn't make much sense to restrict the new WikiProject to our regional context (ie Indian butterflies) or to Papilionoidea exclusively (and exclude, as an artificial division, the rest of Lepidoptera, which is a much larger canvas), we have decided that 'in for a pound, in for a penny'! Or is it the other way round? (quizzically).
Thanks IronChris for mooting the idea six weeks ago, an eternity in Wikitime! May you never rust! We shall now begin our work towards this end. Suggestions are ecstasically welcomed. Support and participation is worth a lifelong debt, would you say? AshLin 18:22, 21 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Proposed WikiProject Lepidoptera

message: This was a large one from Bangalore in south India, a little more than an inch. Should probably be identifiable with David L. Pearson's work on Indian Cicindelidae. Unfortunately I have no access to that work :( Shyamal 03:20, 23 May 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Cicindela aurofasciata Shyamal 04:11, 31 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Tiger Beetle needing id

message: Could someone tell me if this beetle is a Coccinellidae? I looks like it (overall shape) but lacks the spots... IronChris  |  (talk) 12:43, 3 June 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Awesome, thanks a lot. Actually, it was on a wooden post, not a plant, unfortunately. IronChris  |  (talk) 13:03, 4 June 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Other beetle ID

message: The article Procambarus clarkii (the red swamp crawfish) could really do with a photograph. Does anyone have one we could use, or know where we could get one? --Stemonitis 08:09, 8 June 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  ''Procambarus clarkii'' 

message: Hi, all. In the process of editing or making new insect pages, a common stumbling block I encounter is mouthpart terms. Right now, terms like "maxilla", "mandible" and "labium" all have pages for the vertebrate structures, but nothing for arthropods. Even "palpus" redirects to "pedipalp", which is inappropriate for insects. This looks like the most significant problem in arthropod anatomy at the moment. Does anyone feel up to this? Dyanega 17:23, 9 June 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Yes, this is a serious lack in arthropod-related articles. I would love to help, but unfortunately I won't be able to tackle something so vast before the month of August at the earliest. Good luck to anyone who decides to work on it! IronChris  |  (talk) 11:33, 14 June 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Well, I've gone and made a start. Someone had to. It's probably wrong in many ways, and we all know there's a lot of stuff missing. But it's a start. Join in the fun: edit "mouthparts". --Stemonitis 16:41, 29 June 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Anyone wanna tackle mouthparts? 

message: Yesterday (13 Jun 06), at around 0830 hrs, at a dolomite mine near Chacha village, 20 odd kms from Pokaran on the Jodhpur-Jaisalmer road, my son Aashay saw a beetle scurrying very quickly on the ground. The beetle was white with part black markings. We chased it trying to catch the dodging creature. It was so active that it escaped from our scooped hands many times. We took a number of shots. Over the course of our encounter, to our amazement it gradually turned black with a very thin white edging only. The local people told us that it would recover to the first pattern after 15 minutes or so. Need identification and details of the beetle's natural history and taxonomy please. Regards, AshLin 08:22, 14 June 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: It's a Tenebrionid, but I can't be certain of the subfamily. From what I can see in the photos, the white "markings" are, like in many desert Tenebs, not markings, but fine cuticular wax deposits. I'd never heard of the beetle being able to change the amount of wax on it, so I have a better explanation, based on what one can observe; the wax layer is hygroscopic (absorbs moisture), and when it does so, it loses its reflectivity. Holding the beetle in your hand will greatly increase the humidity in the airspace near the beetle. This makes some sense as a desert adaptation; when humidity is low, the beetle reflects more sunlight, and when humidity is high, it reflects less. I've just never heard of the phenomenon, and can't confirm it myself. What you need to do is catch one, kill it, and experiment. If it's that sensitive, even breathing on it should have a noticeable effect. If it can be confirmed, it might even be something to publish, assuming no one has documented it before.
P.S. As for WikiProject Insecta, I guess I don't see how splitting off from the Arthropods project will help either resulting group. It doesn't look like we need it, at this point. Peace, Dyanega 17:09, 15 June 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: A colour-changing beetle

message: It's been discussed before, but now I'd like to do something about it: :Category:Hymenoptera. Categorisation is there to help the user, not to mirror the phylogenetic tree (that would be for Wikispecies), so I would suggest the following subcategories:
*:Category:Ants for Formicidae,
*:Category:Bees for Apiformes,
*:Category:Wasps for Vespidae,
and have the few remaining articles just floating about in :Category:Hymenoptera until we find we've got too many. Any comments? --Stemonitis 10:16, 20 June 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: As you'll note from a much earlier message along these lines, I also find it confusing as to whether the existing categories are simply trying to reflect the phylogeny. Again, the only reason I think it may be worth sticking with the status quo is that the Wiki search engine does NOT find every page that refers to a given taxon level, so if - for example - I actually want to know what all the pages are for Apocrita, a search on "Apocrita" won't do it, even if it appears in every one of the taxoboxes... but having a category Apocrita does. So, the first question is "What's our goal?" - and we should go from there. As for making a category "Wasps", it would certainly be a lot more than just Vespidae. The term is used for all non-ant, non-bee, non-Symphytans. In that sense, we could effectively eliminate the "Hymenoptera" category altogether and just have four categories: sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. Is that what we want? Dyanega 16:57, 21 June 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: If it's acceptable to specialists, and it works for the laity, then yes, that's what we want. I'm not sure I'd have expected "ichneumon flies" to be under Category:Wasps, but maybe that's just my own misunderstanding. We can always put a short explanation on the category page. I'll wait a bit before doing anything, but your four-category scheme sounds good to me. Category:Hymenoptera would stil exist, but would only contain the subcategories, and perhaps the four articles bee, ant, sawfly and wasp). On the searching issue, if the taxoboxes do all include Apocrita, then you can use the "What links here" link to find them all (and a bunch of other articles that mention Apocrita). It's not ideal, but it is a possibility. --Stemonitis 06:17, 22 June 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Hymenoptera categorisation 

message: I noticed the trilobite page links to cephalocarids, saying that cephalocarids may be the closest living relative of trilobites. Maybe we could include some information on why scientists think they are related?
Also, I wanted to say thanks for all the hard work, you are all doing a great job on the Arthropod project. I am consistently impressed by the quality of Wikipedia. Gary 05:14, 1 July 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  cephalocarids and their relationship to trilobites 

message: Could someone look at the article about the anti-tick product Damminix? I'm sceptical about some things, such as the "technological review". Does this really follow Wikipedia guidelines? Thanks. IronChris  |  (talk) 18:40, 5 July 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: [[Damminix]]

message: Maybe someone here can help me identify this enigma.  I took this picture in my backyard in Sarasota, Florida.  I have two more views which I can upload if they're helpful.  Any help is greatly appreciated! --Starwiz 13:58, 16 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Hi. It looks like it is probably Lygaeidae. I don't know much about American species but I'll have a quick look at some images to try to find a match. Richard Barlow 11:05, 17 July 2006 (UTC)

text: I found this picture of Oncopeltus fasciatus (known as the Large Milkweed Bug - could be significant!). I'm pretty sure this is your guy. Richard Barlow 13:08, 17 July 2006 (UTC)

text: Oncopeltus fasciatus it is, then.  It looks a lot like a Small Milkweed Bug, but its markings match up with the large one.  It strikes me as strange that those two are in different genera, but what do I know?  Thanks for the help. --Starwiz 13:28, 17 July 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Unidentified bug on milkweed 

message: How about an improvement drive? I nominate centipede, as it is poor by scientific terms - Jack (talk) 03:36, 25 July 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Improvement drive 

message: hi, i changed the format of the quote on the Main page; the reason was that the line break was all messed up with opera 9. it's the same with firefox, i guess it's got something to do with font scaling. however, the box looked like i'm not the first one messing with the format ;) so, if you tell me what the trouble was with the formatting, maybe we can find a solution that fits all browser brands. cheers --Sarefo 22:24, 25 July 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  top quote 

message: I have been requested to identify this picture from Commons, taken in Germany. I don't think it is a European species at all so I assume it is a captive specimen (I am checking this with the photographer). In the meantime does anyone here recognize it? Thanks Richard Barlow 09:21, 27 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: The picture has been identified, the image name changed and added to the gallery at Parthenos sylvia. Richard Barlow 07:50, 29 July 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Butterfly picture 

message: Quite a spectacular looking species from the Western Ghats. 
And this I believe is a Brentid weevil 
Shyamal 11:55, 2 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: A Scarabeid ?

message: Were you aware that cricket links to the sport, not to the insect or a disambiguation?  Am I the only one who thinks that's crazy?  --Aranae 08:42, 24 August 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I'm English so it perhaps seems not quite so crazy to me :) I agree a disambig page might be preferable but the dablink does the job as well. Richard Barlow 10:19, 24 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Cricket

message: I thought I'd post here, because interested insect folk might read it.  I've worked some on the Isle of Bute article, a place in Scotland.  Someone has contributed a section to the article labeling the island as the "Island of Fleas" in entomological circles, known for having many different species.  I am somewhat dubious of this, having found no such references.  Anyone familiar with this?  Anyone who can go to Isle of Bute#Entomology and have a look, I would much appreciate the perspective. Isoxyl 15:31, 30 August 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Hi, thanks for the query. 59 species of flea have been recorded in the British Isles and I wouldn't imagine a count of 15 for an island the size of Bute is particularly exceptional. Fleas are universal commensals of wild mammals and birds and if Mr Lawson's sterling work were repeated elsewhere, similar species counts would probably be encountered. For this reason I find the notion that loads of entomologists refer to Bute as the "island of fleas" as rather questionable - if a citation is not forthcoming I would remove this reference although I think the list itself is rather interesting (although I would never object to a list of arthropods in absolutely any article so I am not speaking from a neutral perspective!). I will try to clean it up a bit and add a bit more info when I have the time. Richard Barlow 14:46, 31 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Help: An "Island of Fleas"?

message: Can someone back me up in thinking the photo on the Myrmecophilus page is not a myrmecophilid at all but some kind of grasshopper (not one I recognize I have to admit). Does anyone have any idea where the pic might be better used? Richard Barlow 12:30, 15 September 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  ''[[Myrmecophilus]]'' photo 

message: Hi everyone; I would be very grateful for some help in identifying a few insects:
Image:IC Diptera with prey.JPG|Diptera
Image:IC Tabanidae.JPG|Tabanidae
Image:IC Ichneumonini.jpg|Ichneumonidae
Image:IC Hemiptera larva.JPG|Pentatomidae nymph
Image:IC Tachinidae.JPG|Tachinidae?
All pictures were taken in France. Thanks, IronChris  |  (talk) 18:25, 23 September 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I think your insect knowledge matches mine pretty closely. The first one kind of feels like Asilidae 'cos its really bristly. The second is Tabanidae for sure but I don't recognize the species. The third certainly looks like Ichneumonidae but nothing like I've seen. The fourth is almost certainly Pentatomidae, Eurydema oleracea is my guess. I reckon the fifth may be Muscidae rather than Tachinidae but a specific ID may be beyond me. Richard Barlow 23:16, 23 September 2006 (UTC)

text: The last one is definitely a tachinid; the first one is not an Asilid, but some sort of Muscoid - imposible to tell for certain from the photo, however. Dyanega 16:55, 27 September 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: More ID

message: Vespidae redirects to Vespid contrary to most other family pages. Perhaps some administrator could move it so that Vespid redirects to Vespidae and the history is retained ? Shyamal 12:28, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  [[Vespid]] 

message: :Image:Bombardier_blr.jpg Is some kind of bombardier beetle from India. Any further id ? Shyamal 13:39, 28 September 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: ID

message: last august i was on vacations on paris and i took some pictures on the natural history museum. yet i do not find the right article for these, maybe you know better where they belong:
Image:Aeschna speciosa paris.JPG
Image:Protophasma woodwardi.JPG
Image:Antrimpos speciosus munster.JPG
in any case thankyou -LadyofHats 10:10, 6 October 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: need help

message: This is a rough draft of an anatomical diagram of a shrimp. I am looking for feedback on accuracy. I would like suggestions and criticism. What should I do to improve it, is there anything I should change, did I make any mistakes? I was planning on adding a little more detail such as hairlines along some of the limbs and tail, and perhaps add color/shading/detail. Of course, I would also add lables as well. So comments would be appreciated. Thanks for your consideration. Please leave comments at .--Andrew c 17:34, 7 October 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Shrimp diagram request for comment 

message: 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 23:42, 25 October 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Project directory 

message: Hello all,
I have finally created a grading scheme to classify all the arthropod articles using the template . For information on how to use the grading scheme, please refer to Wikipedia:WikiProject Arthropods/Article Classification. I think everything you should need can be found there. I copied it from the system used by WikiProject Spiders. It isn't perfect yet, but functional enough to allow grading of quality and importance. In particular, there is a bot (MathBot) that reviews all articles with a talk page template that offers a grading system, but I'm not sure how to apply this to our WikiProject, or if it's automatic.
Articles needing assessment can be found here.
I believe that this sytem will enable us to get a better overview of the articles covered by this WikiProject, and to target the articles that need improvement. If you encounter any problems, have comments or need any information please contact me. IronChris  |  (talk) 23:41, 13 November 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Brand new grading scheme 

message: There is currently a barnstar proposal at :Wikipedia:Barnstar and award proposals/New Proposals#Wildlife Barnstar for a barnstar which would be available for use for this project. Please feel free to visit the page and make any comments you see fit. Badbilltucker 15:24, 15 November 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Wildlife Barnstar 

message: I have been making a few edits to the main page of WP Arthropods, mainly some formatting (format of the table of contents, removal of unnecessary sections, added background color; please take it off if you think it's horrible and distracting), in the hope of rekindling some of the initial enthusiasm for this project which seems to be dying out slowly. I have also made some more important changes, including the grading scheme mentionned above and moving the style suggestions to Wikipedia:WikiProject Arthropods/Style suggestions, even though I haven't yet decided if it's better to delete them from the main page or not.
If you have any input whatsoever, I'd be glad for it. If you haven't already, please take a look at Wikipedia:WikiProject Arthropods/Article Classification. It tells all there is to know about the grading scheme, and lists the articles that have the template  by importance and by quality. See also :Category:WikiProject Arthropods articles.
I would also like to bring to the attention of those of you who might not yet have noticed the creation of a new category: :Category:Arthropod anatomy.  Happy editing! IronChris  |  (talk) 02:56, 19 November 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  About this WikiProject 

message: A while ago, I replaced the old hierarchical category system for insects (:Category:Exopterygota, :Category:Endopterygota, :Category:Neoptera, :Category:Pterygota, :Category:Apterygota) with a simpler system of having each order as a category under :Category:Insects. At the time, I didn't request deletion for the old categories, although I probably should have. Would anyone object if I list them for deletion now? --Stemonitis 16:55, 22 November 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: no worries  Goldfinger820 19:44, 22 November 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Yup, no problem. IronChris  |  (talk) 01:30, 29 November 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Insect superordinal categories

message: might be a good idea to have a section/table on the WP:ARTH participants page that we can all put our relevant arthropod specialities into. would be a good reference to know who to ask for opinions/help on specific topics.  comments??
Goldfinger820 20:57, 28 November 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Do we need a special section for that? Can't participants just add that kind of info after their name? We could add a sentence at the top of the participants section inviting people to add a line or two about their areas of expertise (if any). Or did you have a better idea in mind? IronChris  |  (talk) 01:30, 29 November 2006 (UTC)
replies: text:  yep encouraging people to add a line or two after their user name would work just as well.  quite useful to know who can help with what.  Goldfinger820 19:31, 29 November 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Participant info

message: 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 22:08, 6 December 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Proposed Veterinary medicine project 

message: Hi guys, i'm kind of a newbie to wikipedia and i wanted to add an image to your article about Cymothoa exigua, the tongue-biting isopod. I've seen it all over the internet, but i know Wikipedia has a very strict image policy. I couldn't find the image owner to be honest. I found the orginal image on http://tolweb.org/Isopoda in case you want to see it. Any suggestions? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Birdmaster300 (talk • contribs) 02:11, 14 December 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Each of the images on that page is accompanied by a short text and a copyright statement. I suspect that the copyright statement applies to both the image and the text, making that picture is copyright "© 1989 Matthew Gilligan, Savannah State College, Savannah, GA". It would be wonderful to have an image, but I think we'll have to look elsewhere, unless you can find Matthew Gilligan and he is prepared to release his image under a less restrictive license. --Stemonitis 07:43, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

text: The same image has, however, been uploaded to Flickr, apparently under the CC Attribution Non-Commercial ShareAlike license, but labelled as "snagged", whatever that means. --Stemonitis 08:05, 14 December 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  About an image I found 

message: FYI - I found a nice image on commons, but no article or reference in either stink or shield bug articles - Leonard G. 17:06, 21 December 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Cannot find a Graphosoma article 

message: Hello, all. It was initially my hope to try to have this done as part of Esperanza's proposal for an appreciation week to end on Wikipedia Day, January 15. However, several people have once again proposed the entirety of Esperanza for deletion, so that might not work. It was the intention of the Appreciation Week proposal to set aside a given time when the various individuals who have made significant, valuable contributions to the encyclopedia would be recognized and honored. I believe that, with some effort, this could still be done. My proposal is to, with luck, try to organize the various WikiProjects and other entities of wikipedia to take part in a larger celebrartion of its contributors to take place in January, probably beginning January 15, 2007. I have created yet another new subpage for myself (a weakness of mine, I'm afraid) at User talk:Badbilltucker/Appreciation Week where I would greatly appreciate any indications from the members of this project as to whether and how they might be willing and/or able to assist in recognizing the contributions of our editors. Thank you for your attention.  Badbilltucker 17:21, 30 December 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Wikipedia Day Awards 

message: Should pages falling under the lepidoptera wikiproject (or other subprojects) be tagged with the arthropod project banner as well? For example codling moth is listed under both projects, though as lepidoptera is a descendant of this project, perhaps it should simply fall under the one category? Richard001 00:15, 15 January 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I've been wondering this. The talk pages were tagged automatically, so we needn't read too much into that: I don't think anyone told the robot to ignore articles tagged under subprojects. They probably needn't be tagged as such, although the importance of an article to lepidopterists need not match its importance to arthropod generalists (and similarly for spiders). I don't think there's any reason not to remove , where there's already a descendant Wikiproject tag on the page, but I wouldn't go out of my way to remove them. If someone fancies pointing the problem out to a robot or its owner, then that would be fine. --Stemonitis 00:54, 15 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Subprojects and article assessments

message: Hi, I was looking for a "New article announcement" section on your project page, but couldn't find one, so I'm posting this here. I wrote a new article about the Polish cochineal (Porphyrophora polonica). Not being a biologist, I concentrated on its historical economic significance, so please feel free to add something to the Biology section. Thanks Kpalion 03:21, 1 February 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  New article: [[Polish cochineal]] 

message: This paragraph seems a bit far fetched.  Then again it might be correct as I don't really know anything about Ladybeatles.  Could a knowledgeable person from this project please have a look? If it is correct the paragraph should have some sources to give it credibility. John Dalton 22:20, 1 February 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Is the [[Coccinellidae]] article correct?

message: I'm not sure whether Eciton burchellii or Eciton burchelli is the correct name.  Historically, E. burchellii was the original one, but Eciton burchelli has also seen widespread use after taxonomists decided that the double i was unnecessary.  Recently, though, according to  this source, taxonomic rules have become stricter about adhering to the original form.  
Please discuss this matter on the article talk page.  Thanks! +A.Ou 00:56, 11 February 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Correct name? 

message: I was reading through the article Reduviidae recently, and several things in the intro made me uncomfortable:
:"[the family] includes assassin bugs and wheel bugs (genera include Arilus, Melanolestes, Psellipus, Rasahus, Reduvius, Rhiginia, Sinea, Triatoma, and Zelus), ambush bugs (genera include Apiomerus and Phymata) [...]"
However, if you take a look at the article wheel bug, it only mentions one species baring that name (Arilus cristatus), and doesn't say anything about the other genera mentionned here. I brought this issue up on the talk page of the wheel bug article, but no one responded.
Next, I thought that ambush bugs are their own family, Phymatidae. After reading up on the subject, it seems that some authors include them in the Reduviidae and some put them in a separate, though closely related, family. Which classification is the most up to date?
I would be grateful if someone could clarify the confusion here. IronChris  |  (talk) 20:22, 11 February 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Phymatidae has not been in use for almost a decade now, so that one's easy. There is indeed only a single species of wheel bug. Dyanega 21:29, 12 February 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Excellent. Thanks. IronChris  |  (talk) 17:36, 18 February 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Confusion in the taxonomy of the [[Hemiptera]] 

message: Could someone re-assess this article? Its importance is rated as "mid", which doesn't seem right from an economic perspective. Also, Boll Weevil Eradication Program was a DYK yesterday, if you think that's appropriate to add to the main page here. Sincerely, Novickas 16:49, 20 February 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: It was me that assessed that article, so I suppose I should justify it here. For the cotton industry, the boll weevil is tremendously important, but against the backdrop of all arthropods, its importance pales a little. This is a general feature of this project, that there are always going to be a vast number of articles on relatively unimportant taxa, just because of the huge diversity that exists. Only a tiny proportion of the articles on single species have been assessed as being of mid-importance, mostly ones of economic importance, either as food or as pests. Only two species have made it to high-importance, both of huge importance to the development of biology. I'm not saying that the boll weevil couldn't be reclassified, but those were my reasons for rating it "mid". The ratings don't really mean much, anyway; they're designed to let us know if there are any highly-important articles that are severely lacking in quality, which boll weevil is not. --Stemonitis 17:11, 20 February 2007 (UTC)
replies: text:  Got it. However, since you don't feel it's lacking in quality anymore, could we remove the cleanup tag? Thanks, Novickas 17:49, 20 February 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: It's not entirely clear to me why that tag was ever added, and after all the improvements over the past day or two, I don't think it is at all appropriate any more. By all means ged rid of it. --Stemonitis 17:52, 20 February 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: [[Boll weevil]]

message: This presently redirects to the dinosaur Mononykus which erroneously was first described in that genus (which is a curculionid weevil).  Can someone please whip up a stub for the weevil genus to fix the redirect (+ disambiguation at the stub)? Thanks! (I think the weevil genus has only a few species) Dysmorodrepanis 04:17, 22 February 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: [[Mononychus]]

message: I think it's time to do a massive re-organization of these pages and the various redirects and such that connect them all. Realistically, Mantid and Praying mantis should both be redirects that take one to the Mantodea page first, despite that fact that both of the terms have more specific meanings (the former, technically, is only a member of the family Mantidae, the latter is used by many to refer solely to one species, Mantis religiosa). There is NO utility in having "praying mantis" as a stand-alone page, primarily because of this ambiguity. In fact, I'm tempted to make it a disambiguation page, letting a reader choose whether to go to the Mantodea page or to Mantis religiosa - all of the existing text on the Praying mantis page would be merged into the Mantodea page. This is a prime example of why it often works out badly when WP articles on organisms use common names for the actual pages, rather than making the pages based on taxonomy. I prefer having the common names redirect to taxonomic pages, or given as disambig pages, when a single common name has multiple different possible meanings. The converse argument (and it has its own merits) is that the common names are often more stable than the scientific names. Nonetheless, in this case, I feel that it is too confusing, and there is too much redundant information. I'll go and put notes on the respective talk pages, to send interested parties here, in case anyone has strong objections or constructive alternative solutions to the problem, before I go ahead with the changes. I'd also like a little advice on how one goes about merging talk page content, since both Mantodea and Praying mantis have substantial numbers of entries there. 138.23.134.119 18:15, 26 February 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I think your general approach is a good one. Note that where there is no "reasonably unique common name", the scientific name is perfectly acceptable: this may apply to many taxa of Mantodea. If, for example, "praying mantis" is sometimes used for the order, sometimes for a family, and sometimes for a single species, then having it as a disambiguation page is probably the only reasonable solution. --Stemonitis 18:24, 26 February 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Just realized I didn't log in before posting the preceding - it's me. ;-) Dyanega 18:28, 26 February 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Mantid/Mantis/Mantidae/Mantodea/Praying Mantis 

message: Please be aware of the proposed Species microformat, particularly in relation to taxoboxes. Comments welcome here or on the wiki at that link. Andy Mabbett 17:14, 2 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Microformat

message: In assessing articles, I came across western corn rootworm (Diabrotica virgifera). The article used to be specific to D. virgifera , but has recently been expanded to cover all species of "corn rootworm". I am unsure which of the several possible options is best:
# Have a large multi-species article at Diabrotica, mentioning each of the species in turn.
# Have a large multi-species article at corn rootworm, mentioning each of the species in turn.
# Split the article into individual species (effectively reverting all the changes to western corn rootworm since mid-January).
As it is, the scope of the article, its taxobox and its title don't match, but I'd like advice on how best to solve the problem. --Stemonitis 14:41, 7 March 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Similar problems have occurred on the honey bee, cicada killer, and hornet pages. In each case, I have argued STRONGLY that if there are multiple species, and each has a page, then that is where the information on each species should be directed, and have performed large-scale edits to make it so. Use pages like these, or elephant or swallow, as examples where there are one or a few well-known species, but the page still manages to remain generalized, rather than getting bogged down by information on the well-known members of the group. A lot depends on whether the term "corn rootworm" does in fact refer to ALL Diabrotica species, and ONLY Diabrotica. If so, then there should not be separate Diabrotica and corn rootworm pages; ideally, the page should be the Diabrotica page (with a taxobox listing species), and corn rootworm should be a redirect TO it. If this still isn't enough, you can state at the top that This page refers to all species collectively known as corn rootworms - for the Western corn rootworm, see [[[Diabrotica virgifera]] or something similar (as is done on the honey bee page). As you note, trying to cram multiple species together creates more problems than it solves. Dyanega 17:54, 9 March 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Okay, I looked it over, and cleaned it up; the problem is that whoever cut-and-pasted the text onto the Western corn rootworm page did so from a source that was comparing both of the species found in Iowa, rather than discussing that one species by itself, or the genus as a whole, or the US as a whole. The ony way to deal with it was to make specific reference in the introduction that the following page text was a comparison. The general rootworm comments were moved to the Diabrotica page where they belong. I'll try to align the various common names and redirects so they go where they should. Dyanega 22:44, 9 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  [[Western corn rootworm]] 

message: I am wondering if placing taxonomic keys (by those who can be bothered) on the pages is supported? I placed an example on the gribble page. I think it would be useful, as keys can be hard to find or not available, and are a way of giving concise detail. They might seem too taxonomic for some, but could be a great resource for those wanting to go a bit deeper. I don’t know if this approach would infringe on other wiki projects such as wikispecies, but the photos and extra biological information on these pages would also help in identifications. Also, if all the information for a taxon is held under the one roof, it is less likely to go out of date.--Lauriec 02:38, 9 March 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Definitely useful. But most often one comes across keys that are specific to a geographic region and these might be only partly useful to folks from other biogeographic zones. But those who can use keys obviously will know that, so it is definitely not a problem. A more real problem is that many lay-editors just visit species pages and add wikify or cleanup tags because of the terminology used. For butterfly species article, for instance I tend to solve this by putting a header leading them to a glossary and knocking of these tags. Perhaps others have a better solution for this. Shyamal 03:59, 9 March 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: As long as the keys are small, and not copyrighted material, this can certainly be useful and practical to include; problems are most likely to arise when either of these conditions are violated (a large key, or copyrighted material). If there are online keys, then a link to them is definitely a preferrable approach. Dyanega 18:00, 9 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  [[Taxonomic keys]]