Atlas of African Scorpions
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Date started: 2013-03-04 11:26:42
Web page:
Scorpions are conspicuous and attractive terrestrial animals, and are frequently photographed. Images of all African Scorpions are welcomed and all contribute equally towards a better understanding of the distribution patterns of these fascinating creatures.
Scorpions have captivated much interest by scolars by their great antiquity and the amazing suite of biochemical, physiological, behavioral, and ecological adaptations that have combined to ensure their continued success over the past 450 million years.
Scorpions have a wide geographical distribution and live on all major land masses except Antarctica. Although some species are quite specific in (micro)habitat requirements, many exhibit a high degree of plasticity in habitat use. However, the distribution of most species is poorly known and in most cases it is based on a handful of museum records.
SCORPIONMAP Metadata | |
| 1) DATASET CONTACT | |
| Name of Organization/Department | FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, Department of Biological Science, University of Cape Town |
| Contact person (Person to contact about the dataset) | Dr Rene Navarro |
| Position | Information Systems Specialist |
| Postal Address | FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, Department of Biological Science, University of Cape Town |
| Postal code | 7701 |
| City/Town | Rondebosch, Cape Town |
| Province | Western Cape |
| Country | South Africa |
| Telephone | +27 (0)21 650 4751 |
| Cell | |
| Fax | +27 (0)21 650 3301 |
| rene.navarro@uct.ac.za | |
| Website address (url) | http://vmus.adu.org.za/?vm=ScorpionMAP |
| 2) DATASET METADATA | |
| Title of dataset | Atlas of African Scorpions |
| Brief description (max. 200 words) | The aim of ScorpionMAP is to update the distribution of all African Scorpions. |
| Purpose (max. 200 words) | The information consolidated within ScorpionMAP will build up a comprehensive identification guide, as well as mapping the ranges of each species. |
| Begin date (When data collection started) | 2013/03/04 |
| End date for static datasets (When was data collection ended) | on-going |
| 3) DATA QUALITY | |
| Give a brief account of any biases, gaps or errors which may exist in the dataset. | All VM records include coordinates. Species identificatios in the VM collections are done by a panel of Scorpion experts. Photos submitted to the virtual museum are biased to species that are easy to photograph and to areas which are most accessible to the public. |
| 4) ACCESS/USE CONSTRAINTS | |
| How to get a copy of the dataset | Data summaries and distributions maps are available in the project's website. For raw data requests email the contact person. |
| 5) OTHER INFORMATION | |
| Other information about the dataset which may be important. | ScorpionMAP is a project of the Animal Demography Unit at the Department of Biological Science, University of Cape Town |
| 6) METADATA AUTHOR | |
| Author name (name of the person who entered the metadata record) | Dr Rene Navarro |
| Author organization | Animal Demography Unit, Department of Biological Science, University of Cape Town |
| Author position | Information Systems Specialist |
| Author address | Animal Demography Unit, Department of Biological Science, University of Cape Town |
| Author postal code | 7701 |
| Author city/town | Cape Town |
| Author province | Western Cape |
| Author country | South Africa |
| Author telephone | +27 (0)21 650 4751 |
| Author fax | +27 (0)21 650 3301 |
| Author email | rene.navarro@uct.ac.za |
| Metadata creation date | 20-Jun-13 |
| Last update of metadata | 20-Jun-13 |
