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<p>Hi, everyone. Today is the big day for our formal announcement
"rolling out" a new website for an international biological
crowdsourcing effort:</p>
<p><b>The Timema Discovery Project (TDP)<br>
</b></p>
<p><i>Timema</i> is an unusual genus of "stick insects" endemic to
the Western US, and they have been the subject of a considerable
amount of high-profile research by a number of people over the
last few decades. Bernie Crespi (Simon Fraser Univ.), Patrik Nosil
(University of Sheffield), Tanja Schwander (University of
Lausanne), and Victor Soria-Carrasco (University of Sheffield) are
among the primary investigators, and I'll be assisting them and
their collaborators by trying to unravel the taxonomy and
biogeography of this group.</p>
<p>To better accomplish this, we are looking to recruit both
professional biologists and "citizen scientists" to contribute
fresh specimens and/or data, to help fill in the many gaps in the
existing information on genetics, morphology, phenology, feeding
habits, and distribution. There are several undescribed species,
and questions regarding existing species boundaries, that simply
can't be addressed confidently without more specimens and/or data.
<br>
</p>
<p>If you, or your friends and colleagues, live or do field work in
<b>California</b> or <b>Arizona</b> (or bordering regions of
Oregon, Nevada, and Baja California in Mexico), the odds are good
that you can help!</p>
<p>The present (though possibly temporary) home of the website is at</p>
<p><b><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__cache.ucr.edu_-257Eheraty_Timema_AboutProject.html&d=DwMCaQ&c=cjytLXgP8ixuoHflwc-poQ&r=LpYc_Z_iN1KRw0hheb3x6-8MJUMu482qfHowpGYJqwc&m=0nvRwZEeWWgXpXgpeTKuIEO6xtbK_pq_onAHzKv4hWQ&s=Jtm3sIb2MAix-hYV_dpP2hg8CmIo2PLI_q6_Yk-vR2U&e=">http://cache.ucr.edu/~heraty/Timema/AboutProject.html</a></b></p>
<p>and you can go there for more information about the project, the
timemas themselves, the collaborators, the existing literature,
and step-by-step instructions for the best way to gather and
submit specimens to assist us. We were hoping to have the online
key and image gallery functional before going public, but the <i>Timema</i>
season is now starting in the low desert, so we can't wait any
longer!</p>
<p>PLEASE HELP SPREAD THE WORD!</p>
<p>We are considering creating a project-specific FaceBook page, but
as the aim is to reach as broad an audience as possible, for the
time being we hope to use the existing FaceBook pages for <b>BugGuide</b>
(<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.facebook.com_groups_19833784207_&d=DwMCaQ&c=cjytLXgP8ixuoHflwc-poQ&r=LpYc_Z_iN1KRw0hheb3x6-8MJUMu482qfHowpGYJqwc&m=0nvRwZEeWWgXpXgpeTKuIEO6xtbK_pq_onAHzKv4hWQ&s=cEO11f2t8S0q02aFZboAiYKgVfco72WlerBikw2r21M&e=">https://www.facebook.com/groups/19833784207/</a>)
and <b>SW US Arthropods</b> (<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.facebook.com_groups_SWInsects_&d=DwMCaQ&c=cjytLXgP8ixuoHflwc-poQ&r=LpYc_Z_iN1KRw0hheb3x6-8MJUMu482qfHowpGYJqwc&m=0nvRwZEeWWgXpXgpeTKuIEO6xtbK_pq_onAHzKv4hWQ&s=yQDMh9zd9NFL-k9G-oO5pb9WUQLM-QbsehzPYXnNJuc&e=">https://www.facebook.com/groups/SWInsects/</a>)
as places where people can post photos and make information
requests. If this proves impractical then we will create a
stand-alone FB page.<br>
</p>
<p>On behalf of myself and the other TDP researchers, we very much
appreciate any and all contributions to the project!</p>
<p>Peace,<br>
</p>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Doug Yanega Dept. of Entomology Entomology Research Museum
Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314 skype: dyanega
phone: (951) 827-4315 (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__cache.ucr.edu_-257Eheraty_yanega.html&d=DwMCaQ&c=cjytLXgP8ixuoHflwc-poQ&r=LpYc_Z_iN1KRw0hheb3x6-8MJUMu482qfHowpGYJqwc&m=0nvRwZEeWWgXpXgpeTKuIEO6xtbK_pq_onAHzKv4hWQ&s=kuKWGGk7QWs-e93Zs6UsSnBCq9aFhqwaBcYO6gAIYC8&e=">http://cache.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html</a>
"There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82</pre>
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