Help:Editing species pages

Species pages form the core content of Antwiki. A page already exists for each named species, as explained here. You must have a user account to edit pages in Antwiki. The term editing is used here in a general way to refer to page changes that includes adding new content and revising existing content.

If you have editorial privileges there are no limits on what you can edit on a species page. Even so there are important elements of named pages (Template Fields) that should be left alone to insure the species pages are consistent and accurate. Editors should also be responsible in other ways too (be respectful of fellow Antwiki editors, add content that is consistent with Antwiki’s aims, and respect copyrights.

Finding a species page
There are numerous ways to find a specific species page. You can type the binomial name in the search box and click on "Go." Alternatively, using Pheidole rhea as an example, you can type the name like this: http://antwiki.org/Pheidole rhea and then hit return (an "enter" keystroke). Both methods will take you directly to the species page. Another method for finding a particular species page is to use the hierarchically organized lists of ant names to navigate to the page you want.

Species Page Core Content
All the species pages were initially created from a species page template. Template generated pages contain an important set of core content but have not yet been hand edited. Template generated content includes a species specific taxobox, an appropriate set of categories, a google map, the name of the country where the type specimen was collected, a Bolton catalogue entry and a few headings.

Template Created Fields
If you or another editor inadvertently edited out a piece of standard species page content you can easily determine what needs to be added back in by looking at the species page template page (see link just above). From there you should be able to find the appropriate edited text, and where it should be placed, to reinsert the missing content.

Headings
The structure provided by the species page template creates consistency across all species pages and is best left in place. Additional fields and headings can be added (see suggested additional headings for some ideas) but it is not advisable to alter the primary headings.

Taxoboxes
The taxonomic and nomenclature information in each taxobox is important for organizing named pages into hierarchical categories, for integrating occurrence and nomenclature information shown on each page and for sharing information with EOL. With the exception of adding representative images taxoboxes should not have their text or coding edited.

Distribution Map
The google map shown on a page is initially set to show the entire earth. You can change this view to more accurately show the known range of a species. Even if there is some uncertainty about the actual range it can be helpful to narrow the map to a view of a particular region, e.g., something like southern Africa or Central and Northern South America.

The Project Map help page has information about adjusting the perspective of the google map. For the purpose of the species pages, you will be changing (as shown on the edit page of a species page with a google map that has not been altered from its template generated form) this - - to something like -. Any page that has a map that shows less than the entire world serves as an example of how these maps are generated (Pheidole biconstricta, Mystrium camillae). Just click on the edit link to the right of the distribution box of a page to view the formatting of the google map georeference specifications.

It is important to include more area than the known range for most species. This will allow future occurrence records that may be found beyond the known range to be posted and seen on the map.

Bolton Catalogue Information
The initial entry seen under the Nomenclature heading on a species page is generated by a template. On the edit view of a species page this template is specified by the text -. This inserts the relevant entry from an up-to-date version the the Bolton New General Catalogue. If you do any editing under this heading be sure to leave this template reference in place.

Name Related Categories
Numerous categories are used to organize each species into hierarchical lists. New categories can be added to the existing lists but none of the name related categories should be altered.

Adding Images
Photos and other visual content displayed on Antwiki are posted from files stored on the Antwiki webserver. To display an image you have on your computer on Antwiki you must first upload the file. Uploaded images are displayed on pages using some relatively easy to learn, but quite specific, syntax. The Image help page explains all of the details you need to work with images.

Images can be placed anywhere on a species page by adding coding that includes a reference to a specific image file and details about how the image is displayed, e.g., the size, place in the flow of text, etc. A explanation of the syntax used is provided here: Displaying Images

Taxobox Images
One task editors can do to help improve Antwiki is to add images to species page Taxoboxes. The Taxobox help page explains how this can be done.

Montage Images
A worker is the caste of choice for a species page taxobox. Exceptions to this would include cases where the species is a workerless parasite or if a species has been described and is only known from a caste other than the worker. What can you do if you have montage images of castes other than the worker that is already shown in the taxobox images? The headings "Castes" was put in place, in part, as a convenient place for these images. A format for adding Caste specific images is found here.

Headings
Adding new headings is simple: [|MediaWiki Headings Help].

The addition of new headings helps to organize content on the page and, with each heading added, automatically adds a linked entry to the table of contents at the top of the page.

Content under Existing Headings
There are two ways to begin editing content under an existing heading. You can click on the edit tab in the upper right side of the page to edit all the content on the page or you can click on the [edit] link at the right margin across from the heading name where you want to add information. With the latter you will only be editing the information for that particular heading.

If you are editing the whole page, headings will be evident by their being set off by the equals symbol. Each heading has the same number of = preceding and following the heading text.

Content under New Headings
Headings begin at the second level (the page title is technically the first heading level) and are designated ==Heading== on an edit page. Third level headings have three leading and trailing equals signs, fourth level have four, etc.

There is a suggested set and ordering of species page headings. It is helpful to follow these suggestions, as best as possible, so that species page content is consistent from page to page.

Introductory Paragraph
Removing "An introductory paragraph about this species should be placed here."

Types
Type information can be broken down into a number of headings.

You can easily indicate the museum where types are know to be, or stated to be, held by including a link using the museum collections' abbreviation. See the Ant Collections help page for more about this topic.