Aphonopelma2002
Arachnopeon
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2003
- Messages
- 14
Hello All,
I've had a lot of email regarding my method of posting tarantula species for sale so I thought maybe I should give a review of how it works.
Most of the tarantulas for sale on these boards and elsewhere have scientific names established for them. Probably 9 out of 10 of you know that a Chilean Rose tarantula has the scientific name of Grammostola rosea. However if you ask 10 people the common name for a "Chilean Rose" tarantula you will likely get "Chilean Rose", or "Red Rosie", or "Chilean Flame", or "Rosie", or "Chilean Pink", etc. The bottom line is that you will hear different common names for likely the same tarantula.
Personally I like to know what I'm buying when I'm buying a tarantula or anything else for that matter. Common names may or may not get you what you wanted. Here's a good analogy for the common name vs. scientific name usage. Most of you have some decent computer skills (otherwise you probably wouldn't be reading this). If you needed to upgrade your computers operating system you'd go to your local computer place and likely ask for windows. "Windows" is the common name for all of Microsofts windows operating systems. Now likely you would want a specific windows version to upgrade too. If you only ask for "windows" how likely are you to get XP which is what you need? I'm not advocating that common names should be abbandoned just that they aren't foolproof in buying/discussing tarantulas. Scientific names are foolproof in that once they are set for a species it only represents that one species. The downside is that they are hard to spell and pronounce.
Now as for my system, heres how it works. All the abbreviations are based on the scientific name list which I compiled from mutiple sources over the past few years. It's frequently changing to match what the arachnologists are posting for new species or changes to existing classification. You take the first 2 letters of the genus and the first 3 letters of the species to get the abbreviation. Here are a few examples:
Acanthoscurria geniculata ACGEN
Aphonopelma anax APANA
Avicularia versicolor AVVER
Brachypelma smithi BRSMI
Grammostola rosea GRROS
Hysterocrates gigas HYGIG
Lasiodora parahybana LAPAR
Poecilotheria regalis POREG
Pretty straightforward right?
For those of you who do lots of email or IM's using this system saves a huge amount of time typing. Granted you and the person you're contacting must know the system however its pretty intuitive. Heres the current list:
http://www.scottstarantulas.com/scilist.htm
Ok lets review:
Common names - Big gray area
Scientific names - Apple to Apple comparision, hard to spell and pronounce.
Scott's abbreviation system - Apple to Apple comparison, easy to learn, no carpel tunnel damage from repeated typing of long common or scientific names.
Yes I could copyright this system but I'd rather just see it help all of us communicate more clearly.
Comments and critisisim welcome however I won't be giving up my system, it works too damn well.
Thanks for you time, now go buy a new pet tarantula.
Scott (the guy who now suffers carpel tunnel from typing this)
I've had a lot of email regarding my method of posting tarantula species for sale so I thought maybe I should give a review of how it works.
Most of the tarantulas for sale on these boards and elsewhere have scientific names established for them. Probably 9 out of 10 of you know that a Chilean Rose tarantula has the scientific name of Grammostola rosea. However if you ask 10 people the common name for a "Chilean Rose" tarantula you will likely get "Chilean Rose", or "Red Rosie", or "Chilean Flame", or "Rosie", or "Chilean Pink", etc. The bottom line is that you will hear different common names for likely the same tarantula.
Personally I like to know what I'm buying when I'm buying a tarantula or anything else for that matter. Common names may or may not get you what you wanted. Here's a good analogy for the common name vs. scientific name usage. Most of you have some decent computer skills (otherwise you probably wouldn't be reading this). If you needed to upgrade your computers operating system you'd go to your local computer place and likely ask for windows. "Windows" is the common name for all of Microsofts windows operating systems. Now likely you would want a specific windows version to upgrade too. If you only ask for "windows" how likely are you to get XP which is what you need? I'm not advocating that common names should be abbandoned just that they aren't foolproof in buying/discussing tarantulas. Scientific names are foolproof in that once they are set for a species it only represents that one species. The downside is that they are hard to spell and pronounce.
Now as for my system, heres how it works. All the abbreviations are based on the scientific name list which I compiled from mutiple sources over the past few years. It's frequently changing to match what the arachnologists are posting for new species or changes to existing classification. You take the first 2 letters of the genus and the first 3 letters of the species to get the abbreviation. Here are a few examples:
Acanthoscurria geniculata ACGEN
Aphonopelma anax APANA
Avicularia versicolor AVVER
Brachypelma smithi BRSMI
Grammostola rosea GRROS
Hysterocrates gigas HYGIG
Lasiodora parahybana LAPAR
Poecilotheria regalis POREG
Pretty straightforward right?
For those of you who do lots of email or IM's using this system saves a huge amount of time typing. Granted you and the person you're contacting must know the system however its pretty intuitive. Heres the current list:
http://www.scottstarantulas.com/scilist.htm
Ok lets review:
Common names - Big gray area
Scientific names - Apple to Apple comparision, hard to spell and pronounce.
Scott's abbreviation system - Apple to Apple comparison, easy to learn, no carpel tunnel damage from repeated typing of long common or scientific names.
Yes I could copyright this system but I'd rather just see it help all of us communicate more clearly.
Comments and critisisim welcome however I won't be giving up my system, it works too damn well.
Thanks for you time, now go buy a new pet tarantula.
Scott (the guy who now suffers carpel tunnel from typing this)
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