Aleocharine Image Database Posted

[Rodney S. Hanley]

Hi ALL,

        Aleocharinae staphylinid beetles have always been one of the
most
difficult groups of the Coleoptera.  This is because of the tremendous
diversity (over 12,000 described species in over 950 genera worldwide),
the small size of most (most 3-5mm in length), the lack of comprehensive
identification guides, virtually no illustrations for most taxa, and the
very limited availability of well-identified comprehensive collections
for most regions of the world.

        As a part of my NSF-PEET supported project on the
systematics of aleocharine staphylinid beetles (Coleoptera:
Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae) we have developed and posted a WWW
DEMONSTRATION PROJECT (http://www.nhm.ukans.edu/ksem/aleoshow.cgi) of
a searchable database of images of various taxa of the Aleocharinae.  It
includes habitus photographs, line drawings of structural features, and
SEM micrographs.  Included are 882 images of representatives of 332
genera
in 39 of the described 48 tribes of aleocharines.  One can construct
searches based on any combination of taxonomic name (at all hierarchial
levels), structural characteristic(s), type of image (photo, line
drawing,
etc.), geographic area that the specimen(s) (from which the image was
taken) were taken from, and various other features.  You can view the
results of your search as a set of thumbnails, a set of image links, or
individual images.  A complete "HELP" menu is included that explains how
to use the database.

        Please pay attention to the note on the top of the first search
screen that describes the screen settings that are best for viewing the
images.  Other settings may show lower quality images.

        There are 2 ways to get to this posting:

        1) Start with the Snow Entomological Collection (University of
Kansas) web page at "http://www.nhm.ukans.edu/ksem", choose "PEET GRANT"
from the menu, then choose "Aleocharine Image Database" from the menu in
the PEET grant.

        2)  Simply type "http://www.nhm.ukans.edu/ksem/aleoshow.cgi"
into
the "open" window of your www browser and hit enter.

        We greatly welcome comments and suggestions.  Please address
these
to "ashe at falcon.cc.ukans.edu".

        Thank you for your time

Steve Ashe
Division of Entomology, KU Natural History Museum, University of Kansas