And So Much Yet to Do!

It seems hard to believe, but on this day a year has passed since I put up my very first post on Catalogue of Organisms (for the record, it was on dinoflagellates). A whole year of time spent writing posts for the blog when I should have been doing my research work (hope my supervisor doesn't read that). So what have people liked in that time? Through the magic of Google Analytics, I can tell you.

No. 1 – Gulper Eels: People really like gulper eels. In fact, with 1800 or so page-views over the year this has scored nearly double the attention of any other page. With their gigantic jaws and missing rib cages, who could fail to love them? The Cosmic Gulper will be pleased.

No. 2 – Sex Determination in Frogs: Because nothing ups the page-views like putting "sex" in the title. "Frog sex" also seems to the most commonly used search term to get to this site. I still don't know why.

No. 3 – What is a Daddy-Longlegs?: I have a confession to make. The success of this post actually kind of annoyed me. It was my first experience of the effect whereby you can spend hours working on posts and raising nary a blink, then spend five minutes putting together a couple of pictures and about five lines of text and have the thing take off on you.



No. 4 – 'Sophophora' melanogaster: The potential renaming of everyone's favourite lab animal got a lot of attention. It also sparked what I think may be Catalogue of Organisms' longest comments thread so far.

No. 5 – Development of Buddenbrockia: Parasitic amoeboids come together to form parasitic worms. How cool is that? A large part of the popularity for this post came over the course of three days, as I witnessed the power of a Pharyngulation.

No. 6 – Nettles: But as powerful as Pharyngula is, it must still take second place to the power of LiveJournal. I guess the idea of a five-metre tall deadly tree appealed to people. To quote Drhoz, "First it stings you, and then you fall into the hole and die. And if you somehow miss the hole, you die anyway".

No. 7 – Giant Fossil Cephalopods: To be honest, I'm not sure why this short little post has been so popular. I'm guessing that it may have something to do with the proximity of the phrases "buxom wench" and "tentacles".

No. 8 – Bipedal Anoplotherium: The comparison between a fossil relative of the camels and the modern gerenuk went down pretty well.



No. 9 – Arachnid Phylogeny: I still need to edit this one to make it a little easier to read. But trust me, there's a lot more to arachnids than spiders!

No. 10 – Receptaculites: In a post written to tie in with a reworking of a song by They Might Be Giants, I presented this attractive if confusing organism. Some receptaculitids do look a bit like pineapples.

Mind you, if you asked me to highlight my own favourites of the past year, I might not necessarily point at the above. I might prefer the cannibal algae, or the ostrich feet. Then there were the slime-nets, or the Strepsiptera, or the turacos.

I've learnt some things myself in the course of researching posts. I fully expected chancelloriids to be some sort of sponge - in the end I wasn't so sure. I thought the relationships within the herons were fairly well sorted. It turns out they haven't been looked at since the days of DNA-DNA hybridisation. And I learnt that Rajah took seven months to prepare for display.

On Carnivalia

A number of carnivals have appeared over the last couple of weeks:

Linnaeus' Legacy #6 is up at From Archaea to Zeaxanthol, as is Circus of the Spineless.

Carnival of the Blue is up at Zooillogix.

The Boneyard, lucky # 13, is up at Greg Laden's Blog.

Enjoy!

Carnivalia and Such

Two new carnivals out in the last week.

For palaeontology, see The Boneyard at The Dragon's Tales. The current edition features fossilised dwarfs and archosaurian teen sex.

For botany, see Berry Go Round at Greg Laden's Blog. This month - artichokes, borage and explosive liverwort spooge!

Also, I've been waiting nearly a year and a half for it, but the newest update has appeared at Mikko's Phylogeny Archive, which has also changed locations. Mikko Haaramo's site was actually quite influential in my own initial forays onto the interweb, and I'd been getting worried. If you're like me and can happily peruse phylogenetic trees all day, Mikko's site can keep you going for weeks.

Finally, a reminder that the next edition of Linnaeus'Legacy is coming in a little over a week. If you want to submit a post (and a number of you already have), you can send links to me, to Jim Lemire who's hosting at From Archaea to Zeaxanthol, or you can submit a post using the form at Blog Carnival. Come on, all the cool kids are doing it!

Circus of the Spineless

The latest edition of Circus of the Spineless, the monthly invertebrate blog carnival, is up at A DC Birding Blog.

Do I Need a Makeover?

I've been getting a few complaints lately about the colour-scheme I've been using - apparently, some people find the combination of white lettering on a black background too hard to read. Therefore, I'm running something of an experiment - I've changed the template over to black on white, and I'll see if it makes a significant difference to readership over the next few weeks. If not, I may go bacmk to the old style. Because personally, I liked it better.

Bitch and Moan, Moan and Bitch

I'd advise ignoring this post. It's just going to be me carping on about a few things that have come up lately that have been occupying my mind, but aren't really worth a post on their own, because, really, all it's going to be is bitching and moaning. I recommend you go read about wierd crustacean parasites, or cannibal algae, or bipedal adaptations in fossil artiodactyls, or something. They'll be better than this drek.

One of the big news items yesterday in the biology world was the release of the much-hyped Encyclopedia of Life (be warned that the link may have problems - the site is currently suffering from an overload of traffic as quite literally millions of people try to get access at once). One certainly can't fault the site for a lack of ambition - the EoL aims to be nothing less than a source of information for every single thing known about every single species of organism on the planet. So when I admit that I found my experience browsing through the first release of the site underwhelming, I have to add the caveat that it was probably doomed to be underwhelming to at least some degree. After all, the site itself estimates some 1.8 million named species, and new species continue to be published at the rate of hundreds per day. To a certain extent, we should be holding off on criticism now and seeing how the site develops over the next few years. Nevertheless, there are some notable quibbles - Rod Page covered a lot of them. The most significant quibble, of course, but the one to which my caveat applies the most, is that at the moment there just isn't that much info on most species pages. Lots of pretty pictures, but not very much actual info. This is something that can only be corrected over time, of course, but it does lead to my major problem with the site - how will that information be added? At the moment, EoL only presents information that has been authenticated by experts, and Carl Zimmer hits on the exact problem with this when he points out that there just aren't enough experts to authenticate information quickly enough. It has been exactly this problem that has hindered the Tree of Life project to some degree. Remember, for 1.8 million species, if a new species page was put up every day, it would take a little under 5000 years to get them all. I really feel that a Wikipedia type approach would be more appropriate in this case. True, Wikipedia can theoretically suffer from incorrect information being put up by uninformed editors, but in practice a lot of major errors are caught and corrected pretty early (and, of course, Wikipedia covers a lot more topics that EoL, and most of the real problems occur in politicised areas that EoL wouldn't cover). A recent article in Slate claims that the vast majority of significant edits in Wikipedia are actually made by only a small percentage of users - the Slate article felt that this was a problem for Wikipedia, but it would probably be exactly what EoL wants to meet its desired combination of authority and range of information. Allowing readers to edit directly would also mop up minor errors that I caught in browsing, like Cafeteria roenbergensis being abbreviated to C. Roenbergensis (that species name shouldn't be capitalised) and non-italicised genus names on the Chordata page.

The information for each species page is divided into sections such as "Overview" and "Description", and when the page is loaded only one section appears, along with a menu that allows you to click through to other sections. That's all well and good for species that have vast amounts of information available, because readers will not have to scroll through tons of information they may not be interested in to find what they want. It is, however, rather annoying when a species has very little information. Many of the pages may have only a sentence or two for each section and it takes some time to click through to see them all. Could there possibly be some way for all sections to appear at once when the total article length would not be very long? The layout of the text sections of the pages has some issues as well - the page is divided into three equal-sized columns - the navigation menu, the information section and a right-hand panel suggesting alternative pages to look at. The result is that the actual article appears cramped and crammed. Rod Page also mentioned the issue of no links in the article itself. If another taxon is mentioned in an article, it would be helpful if clicking on the name linked through to the appropriate page. This is particularly significant because, for instance, the page on the protist Cafeteria roenbergensis actually incorporates a lot of information on related taxa. Without a link from the pages for those taxa to Cafeteria, browsers may remain completely unaware that the information is even available.

The whole Aetogate thing is continuing to depress us all. A committee was called to review Lucas' behaviour in the whole thing, and decide if he's been a bad boy or not. So they get in two 'independent' researchers to look things over - who happen to be close associates of Lucas! What really makes things irritating, though, is that one of the 'independent advisors', Norman Silberling, actually writes a letter that gets reprinted in the local newspaper, the Albuquerque Journal, in which he declares his total faith in Lucas' good conduct, and does so before the committee even meets! Seriously, what the fuck? I don't think there's much I can add to the situation that hasn't been said before by more competent people, so I'll direct you to what has been said by Janet Stemwedel, Rebecca Hunt, Brian Switek and Julia Heathcote. And, of course, you can keep an eye on the whole sad and ugly process via Mike Taylor.

There was more I was going to write about, but I've wasted enough of your and my time as it is. Sorry.

Linnaeus' Legacy Time

In a week's time, I'll be hosting the fifth edition of Linnaeus' Legacy, the monthly taxonomy and biodiversity carnival. I've been seeing some good taxonomically-oriented posts around the blogosphere this past month, so I know there's plenty out there to include. If you want to stake your claim to a part of the fun, get your links in to me by the 4th of March!

Boneyard #14

The newest edition of the Boneyard is up at Self-Designed Student. Lots of dinosaurs this time around, but the nomenclatorial highlight has to be the fantastically-named giant frog Beelzebufo.

Bird Carnival

The bird carnival I and the Bird has been up for a couple of days now at Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted). My apologies for the late link, but I'm sure the posts are timeless!

The Boneyard #13

The Boneyard is the blog carnival celebrating palaeontology - the latest issue has appeared at Greg Laden's Blog.

Funnily enough, Greg seems to have mistaken my previous post on Podosphaeraster for a fossil post. Nope - Podosphaeraster is alive and well and doing who-knows-what in the modern ocean.

Linnaeus' Legacy #4

Linnaeus' Legacy #4 is up and running at The Other 95%. This month's keywords: everyone's war against everyone; nine men in the bride's chamber, with one woman; provides suction; every brachyuran; mysteries of the platypus; evil geneticists; Roy Orbison; giganormous rodent; LOLcats; Aetogate.

Tangled Bank

The Tangled Bank is a fortnightly carnival that highlights the best in science and medicine blogging. This week's edition is up at Quintessence of Dust.

Also, a reminder that Linnaeus' Legacy is scheduled to happen at The Other 95% tomorrow. If you've got any last minute submissions, get in quick!

Circus of the Spineless #29

Circus of the Spineless #29 is up at Andrea's Buzzing About. This months edition features snails and Superman, ants and apple moths, dragons and damsels, and much, much more. Enjoy!

Linnaeus' Legacy time

The next round of Linnaeus' Legacy is fast approaching, and will be held by Kevin over at The Other 95%. Get your taxonomy-related writings in to me or Kevin by the 8th of February!

Carnivalia

I just arrived home from our camping trip over the long weekend (which, offhand, led to Jack and I deciding that next camping trip we'll be just going by ourselves and leaving the kids at home - it would be nice to have a trip that didn't involve exchanges along the lines of: [Kids:] We're bored! [Jack and Chris:] Then get out of the tent and do something! [Kids:] We don't want to! [sound of molars cracking as Jack and Chris grit their teeth beyond their dentition's breaking point]) to find that two blog carnivals have appeared in my absence:

Palaeontology carnival The Boneyard is up at The Dragon's Tales.

The first ever round of plant carnival Berry Go Round is up at Seeds Aside. You may recall me mentioning this one a few weeks ago, and I'm happy to say that it's debut is any indication, the carnival can only go from strength to strength.

Improving Linnaeus' Legacy

I've started improving the home site for the Linnaeus' Legacy blog carnival. Up to now it's been little more than a place-holder, but I'd like to make it into more of a proper resource, in the way the site for Circus of the Spineless is. I've added links for the blogs that have hosted and those that have contributed (and remember, if you'd like your blog to be elevated from a mere contributor to the higher position of host, then volunteer!) I've also started adding links for websites offering good sources on taxonomy and systematics, and I need to know what you the reader think I need to link to.

Also, is there anyone out there that would be willing to contribute a banner? I know there's some pretty decent artists out there that have contributed to Linnaeus' Legacy in the past. Personally, I haven't the artistic ability of a fungus gnat.

Carnivalia

After something of a hiatus, the palaeontological blog carnival The Boneyard has returned and is up at When Pigs Fly Returns.

Also, a new carnival is in the making. Berry Go Round will cover all aspects of plant life, and the first installment will be up at the end of the month at Seeds Aside. Get your submissions in by the 25th!

Linnaeus' Legacy: The Gift that keeps on Giving

Linnaeus' Legacy #3, the taxonomic blog carnival, is up at Greg Laden's Blog. Enjoy!

Oh yes, and next month's edition will be at The Other 95%, so start thinking about what you're going to prepare for it.

Circus of the Spineless #28

Hi peoples, it's Circus of the Spineless time again, making its first ever appearance here at Catalogue of Organisms! (The act is being headlined by a spectacular clearwing butterfly from Jennifer Forman Orth.) A reminder, too, that the next edition of Linnaeus' Legacy will be appearing in a week's time - get your submissions in to Greg Laden by the 5th of January!

And what would a circus be without some music? It suddenly occurs to me that I should have written the song earlier and gotten Kevin Zelnio to record a performance of it, but I didn't, and you're all just going to have to hum it to yourselves, to the tune of The Beatles' For the Benefit of Mr. Kite.

For the benefit of spineless beasts, tonight we have a major feast

Of invertebrates.

With all the corals there could be, polyps waving in the sea,

Aren't they great?

Deep-Sea News and The Other 95% have decided that nothing says Christmas more than a squishy bag of jelly with tentacles - especially if they come in flourescent green and red colours!



Predators and prey compete, with fungal lassos formed from hyphal threads!

Leaving signs that this sort of thing has happened for years!

Not Exactly Rocket Science has two studies for us on past and present interactions between inverts and their enemies. In the first, water fleas and their parasitic bacteria that have lain dormant in mud for up to 39 years have been revived to test how interactions between the two have changed over time, the bacteria evolving increased ability to infect while the the water fleas increase their ability to resist infection.

In the second, fossil remains have been found in Cretaceous amber of fungal hyphae forming "lassos" to catch nematodes for nutrition. Most interestingly, the fungus in question seems to belong to a different line than the Orbiliaceae, the modern practitioners of the art!

Insects supply a drongo's feast, though the beetles are a sight to see,

the spiders too.

Follow the links for pretty pictures from Bird Ecology Study Group and Ben Cruachan.



The snails gayly fornicate, able to know their suited mate,

We've not a clue.

Pascal, the author of Research at a snail's pace reports that two of his snails have mated, leaving him hopeful for a litter of little snail-lets. One of the happy pair kicked it a few days after mating, which is something of a benefit to Pascal, because he wasn't able to properly ID them to species without cutting them open and looking inside.

Toronto has a warning out, there's beetles on the move that spread disease

And that is something we don't want at all!



The assassin bug will knock you down, displaying its amazing gown

Of ant remains.

Go to The Other 95% to learn how one species of assassin bugs coats itself in the drained husks of the ants it feeds on in order to elude its own predators!

And if you want a nudibranch, and have a fair bit in the bank,

then stake your claim!

Finally, Jim Lemire has been made a little unhappy by an institute reduced to auctioning off the naming rights to a pile of new species in order to pay the bills.

Farewell Circus of the Spineless, we hope that you enjoyed the fun this month!

Next round, see Andrea's Buzzing About!

Additional photo credits: Nematode trapped by a fungus from Neatorama. Snail porn from Wikipedia. Latest assasin bug fashions from Jackson & Pollard (2007).

Update: Two submissions from Susannah at Wanderin' Weeta failed to get through to me in time. If you go here and here, you can help her try to identify some mystery organisms.

Circus of the Spineless: Submit!

I'll be hosting the next installment of Circus of the Spineless next week on the 27th. A number of submissions have already come in, but there's always room for more. So if you have put up anything related to the invertebrate majority, get them in to me by then!