What's New -- 1997

Currently the Coccidae database, which has been converted and transferred to BASIS, is being altered to conform to the ScaleNet format. We anticipate that this will be completed in 1997 and that the soft scale database will be installed on the Web server. There is an old edition of the soft scale database on ScaleNet now, but you will discover a few problems with it especially in the area of references because the citation codes are not always consistent with the master reference file.

The Pseudococcidae database is currently being converted to BASIS by Gary Gibson and Jennifer Read. We are attempting to avoid some of the problems encountered with the Coccidae database by cleaning up the references before conversion. Yair Ben-Dov is also working on parts of this database; updating it since the hard copy was printed, changing citations, and adding key words and other improvements.

The Conchaspididae database was compiled from The Conchaspididae Catalogue (Ben-Dov, 1981c, 1981d) and is current through December 1995.

The Eriococcidae database is nearly complete. It was primarily compiled from the publication of Hoy (1963). We anticipate that this family will be in final form and ready for hard copy publication in 1997.

The references database is currently functional in ScaleNet and involves approximately 9,000 records. It is clear however that a percentage in the range of 10 to 15% of the references are missing from the database. The system seems to be particularly weak in the 1985 to 1990 period. We will continue to work on this database and appreciate knowing about any additional references that need to be added. Please contact Dug Miller and Yair Ben-Dov if you have any information regarding references.

The next major project will be to enter the data for the Diaspididae. This will be a very time consuming task, but we hope to have it complete by 1998. The remaining families will added in 1999 and we expect the retrospective part of the project to be complete in 2000.

Some changes to BASIS are also currently being programmed to improve information retrieval. For example, a "common names" table is being added so that you will be able to access scale information based on a common name rather than a scientific name.