Help:Editing species pages

Species pages form the core content of Antwiki. There is already a page for each named species, as explained here. You must have a user account to edit any page.

Finding a species page
There are two simple 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.

There are other methods for finding and navigating named pages. See the Navigating around Antwiki help page.

Blank Species Pages
All the species pages were created from a template. These "blank" pages do contain some content but have yet to be hand edited.

The Species Page Template
Template generated content includes a species specific taxobox, an appropriate set of categories, a google map of the world, the name of the country where the type specimen was collected, the appropriate Bolton catalogue entry and a few headings. The species page template help page provides details about the species page template. If you or another editor inadvertently edit out any standard species page content, like the google map entry, you can easily determine what needs to be added back in by looking at the species page template page. From there you should be able to find the appropriate text, and where it should be placed, to reinsert the missing content.

Editing Content
Editing is used as a general term that includes adding new content and revising existing content. For organizational purposes this help page will first cover adding new content and then explain how to revise existing information.

Images
In addition to a few designated places for specific types of images it is possible to place images anywhere on a species page. 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.

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 location to organize images of different castes. A format for adding Caste specific images is found here.

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.

Editing Existing Content
There are no restrictions on editing content on a species page. You can edit work that you did earlier or revise content that was added by other editors. Even so you will want to be careful not to delete content that forms part of the core species page content, like the distribution map. Also

Distribution Maps
The google map on the species page is generated by a template. It is specified by this text on the edit page under the heading Distribution. This form of the map shows the entire world. If the range of a species is known to be restricted to a particular region the map can be modified to reflect this knowledge.

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.