[Odonata-l] Updates to OdonataCentral

[John C. Abbott]

I wanted to let everyone know of several updates and new features on OdonataCentral (www.odonatacentral.com).

(1) I have put up a gallery of 43 species of Odonata I photographed on a recent trip to South Africa, http://odonatacentral.bfl.utexas.edu/gallery/South%20Africa/
(2) The journals of the Dragonfly Society of the Americas, ARGIA and the Bulletin of American Odonatology are now on-line; http://odonatacentral.bfl.utexas.edu/dsa1/publications.htm.  All issues up to 3 years ago are available to everyone.  Starting next year, members of the DSA will be able to access all issues on-line.
(3) Rosser Garrison's New World Odonata Catalog is now available in a searchable form, http://odonatacentral.bfl.utexas.edu/utilities/catalog/default.asp.  I will be adding type information and links to the references soon.
(4) I have added a feature so that you can view the distribution of species using Google Maps, http://odonatacentral.bfl.utexas.edu/gmap/.  The maps work nicely, but are slow when looking at species with numerous records.  This is a limitation of Google.  We are working on creating a Georeferencing utility where you will be able to get lat/long coordinates for your localities as well as view distributions using the desktop application Google Earth.
(5) I have added a searchable bibliography that currently contains over 9,000 references; http://odonatacentral.bfl.utexas.edu/utilities/literature/default.asp.  I am still tweaking the reference database so you will find some duplicates and other inconsistencies, but these will be rectified with time.  Soon we will be linking to the actual publications in a pdf form and this database will be linked with the Taxonomic Catalog mentioned above.
(6) I have added a utility where archives of all the North American Odonata list serves can be viewed and searched; http://odonatacentral.bfl.utexas.edu/utilities/mailinglistarchives/.  Individual archives can be searched or you can search all of them at once.
(7) The University of Texas Odonata collection is now available on-line, http://odonatacentral.bfl.utexas.edu/collection/.  The collection currently contains over 10,000 specimens and nearly 700 species with a primary focus of the south-central United States, but contains specimens from around the world. 

Please remember that we have worked hard to insure cross compatibility with different platforms and browsers.  The site is best viewed though using a PC and Internet Explorer with a screen resolution of at least 1024 pixels wide.

I would also like to remind everyone to submit their information to the odonatologists directory if you haven't already.  You can not only add your contact information, but also your website.  With time this will hopefully be the most up-to-date resource for finding people interested in odonates near you.  The link to the directory is http://odonatacentral.bfl.utexas.edu/utilities/directory/

Also, if you have linked to OdonataCentral, please be sure you have listed the domain name as www.odonatacentral.com (not odonatacentral.bfl.utexas.edu) this will prevent any broken links if the server is moved in the future.

Finally, feedback on the website is always welcomed and I appreciate everyone who has been actively submitting records to help fill in the gaps of our knowledge of Odonata distributions.
John
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John C. Abbott, Ph.D.
Section of Integrative Biology
Curator, Brackenridge Field Laboratory Insect Collection
Texas Memorial Museum Research Associate
1 University Station #L7000
The University of Texas at Austin
Austin, Texas 78712  USA
 
Office Phone: (512) 471-5467
Lab Phone: (512) 232-1896
Fax: (512) 475-6286
http://www.sbs.utexas.edu/jcabbott
http://www.odonatacentral.com
Email: jcabbott at mail.utexas.edu
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