Tag Archive for video tutorial

Using photoshop to take morphometric measurements

December 18, 2014 No comments

Taking morphometric measurements using specimen photographs from Eli Sarnat on Vimeo.

In this tutorial I use Adobe Photoshop cs6 Extended Version and a specimen photograph of an ant head to take morphometric measurements. I set a custom measurement scale in Photoshop calibrated to the scale bar embedded in the photograph, then record the measurement taken by using the Ruler Tool. Remember, the measurement will only be as accurate as the scale bar embedded in the photograph. So if the scale bar was not calibrated correctly at the time the photograph was taken, any derivative measurements will also be inaccurate.

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Scratchpads tutorial: dealing with nomenclatural changes (new combinations)

December 14, 2014 No comments

Scratchpads tutorial: dealing with nomenclatural changes (new combinations) from Eli Sarnat on Vimeo.

In this tutorial I show one way for updating terms in the biological classification to reflect nomenclatural changes. The situation I deal with here is for a species included in the Antkey.org site which has recently been transferred to a different genus. This nomenclatural act is known in taxonomic jargon as a ‘new combination’.

In this case, the species Monomorium destructor has been transferred to the genus Trichomyrmex. I change the Unit 1 name (genus) of the term Monomorium destructor to Trichomyrmex. Then I add a new taxon term ‘Monomorium destructor‘ as a child to Trichomyrmex destructor and classify it an invalid name associated with Monomorium destructor. This way all the content previously associated with Monomorium destructor will now be associated with Trichomyrmex destructor, and anytime someone searches for the now invalid name Monomorium destructor the user will be directed to the valid combination Trichomyrmex destructor.

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How to identify Solenopsis invicta using Antkey

November 15, 2014 No comments

In this tutorial I demonstrate a few different approaches to identifying Solenopsis invicta, also known as the Red Imported Fire Ant (RIFA), using Antkey. The key can be accessed at antkey.org/content/key.

How to identify Solenopsis invicta using Antkey from Eli Sarnat on Vimeo.

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How to use Antkey’s Lucid3 interactive key

November 14, 2014 No comments

In this tutorial I demonstrate how to make the most effective use of Antkey’s interactive Lucid3 key for identifying invasive and introduced ants. There are tips on how to use features like the ‘best’ and ‘next best’ buttons, what the different panels mean, how to make effective use of thumbnail and pop-up images and how to adjust the text size.

How to use Lucid Key for identifying ants from Eli Sarnat on Vimeo.

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Video tutorial for tracing specimen images in Adobe Illustrator

March 7, 2012 No comments

Here is a four part video tutorial I’ve made explaining how to trace specimen photographs using Adobe Illustrator CS5 for producing high quality, scaleable line drawings. This procedure is basically the same as the one described in a previous post on illustrating ant heads. Here I trace the profile of Nylanderia bourbonica. Enjoy, and please leave a comment if you have any questions or suggestions for improvements!

Part 1 of 4. Importing the specimen image and tracing the mesosoma.

Part 2 of 4. Tracing the head.

Part 3 of 4. Tracing the waist and gaster.

Part 4 of 4. Tracing the hairs and adjusting their width profiles.

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