Are Funnel Web Spiders (Atracidae) now considered Tarantulas after being reclassified under Avicularioida? (they were formerly put under Atypoidea)

[Arachnopotamus Rex]

Honestly, for that degree of access you're going to need a fellowship. Or possibly fudge your way in chumming up to a lab or institute as a potential apprenticeship candidate. Maybe write up a draft of an intended dissertation and circulate it.

Sounds like a plan to me.

 

[The Snark]

Sounds like a plan to me.

It usually is all about what contributions you can make for that field. You sound like candidate material so run with it. Might attract placement as a research assistant.

@Arachnopotamus Rex There is a lot of leeway in getting into a field. A lot will depend on your scholastic background - not necessarily in that specific field. References can certainly help as well. The more letters the better.
As a weird example, I wrote up a paper on the English language. The alumni took it and presented it as a dissertation. Because of the college credits I had I was awarded with a masters. But about 80% of my credits were in the engineering fields. I simply had demonstrated scholastic ability and achievements and my paper was unique - ground breaking enough to be considered a contribution to the field.

 

[Arachnopotamus Rex]

@Arachnopotamus Rex There is a lot of leeway in getting into a field. A lot will depend on your scholastic background - not necessarily in that specific field. References can certainly help as well. The more letters the better.
As a weird example, I wrote up a paper on the English language. The alumni took it and presented it as a dissertation. Because of the college credits I had I was awarded with a masters. But about 80% of my credits were in the engineering fields. I simply had demonstrated scholastic ability and achievements and my paper was unique - ground breaking enough to be considered a contribution to the field.

I couldn't afford college (though I did go to college for part of highschool). I mostly just study this stuff on my free time so most of what I know I learned from books, videos, websites, photos, fossils, or working with/finding/rearing the actual animals.

I do have a few contacts in the field that I ask questions when I'm unable to find something. It usually takes them a while to get back to me, and a lot of times they don't know the answer to a question I ask because they werent part of that particular study.

Often I get pointed to another website with only bits of info, or they suggest keywords to type, a single paper to look at, or another college or museum to contact, but it feels like playing phone tag/passing the buck with many of them.

It would be so much faster to gather and organize it all if I simply auto received any relevant data and updates from every group working on this.

I have other projects I'm doing as my future money makers, so this is more a passion project for me.
I've been organizing a tree as best I can with what data I have (though your link means I have to reorder a decent chunk of it because the data I was previously pointed to was outdated).

How do I present something of value to be allowed to receive data, when I need that data to make it into said something of value?

 

[Matt Man]

You can't. The big problem is the funding. The sources all want the biggest bang for their buck. Iron clad assurances of proprietary are mandatory. An institute that gets a rep for a data leak might as well close it's doors. It's all so up to the minute cutting edge science. Five years ago an omnivalent Covid vaccine was a pie in the sky dream shot. Now old news and profit margins razor thin.
And as for present day tech, I've got a spider on the waiting list for a DNA type match. It's been 7 years now. Nowhere near enough lab techs and equipment available to keep up with the demand.

and typically the only "Bug Science" that is adequately funded are those related to agriculture

 

[The Snark]

and typically the only "Bug Science" that is adequately funded are those related to agriculture

Tell me about it!
I'm fuzzy on the details here. A friend's sister going to college, a starry eyed dreamer. Majored in environmental sciences. Had two classes canceled for lack of funding, transferred to another university only to have the entire department closed, absorbed by some related science. Three years of college dead ends. In part I unintentionally influenced her. She changed majors, got pre-reqs reassigned, did an fully funded 2 year engineering course in just over a year, got paid work experience credits at a freight airport and is now a ground traffic controller at another freight oriented airport with starting pay more than what her first environmental sciences professor was making.
The irony being most of the freight being moved at that airport is from the surrounding chemical manufacturing plants.

 

[Matt Man]

Tell me about it!
I'm fuzzy on the details here. A friend's sister going to college, a starry eyed dreamer. Majored in environmental sciences. Had two classes canceled for lack of funding, transferred to another university only to have the entire department closed, absorbed by some related science. Three years of college dead ends. In part I unintentionally influenced her. She changed majors, got pre-reqs reassigned, did an fully funded 2 year engineering course in just over a year, got paid work experience credits at a freight airport and is now a ground traffic controller at another freight oriented airport with starting pay more than what her first environmental sciences professor was making.
The irony being most of the freight being moved at that airport is from the surrounding chemical manufacturing plants.

My niece is a working Freshwater Biologist. She is employed by a multinational engineering team to conduct their own EIR (they also have their own staff archaeologists to do their own CRM reports) because these big multinational firms hate to wait for the understaffed Govt folks to get around to it. She just got
\back from an Ocean Voyage where she was checking the ocean life around submerged communications cables in the Pacific. My daughter, who is also into inverts and reptiles looked in to doing Tarantula stuff but there was little to no opportunity for work. If you do bugs, yes, but you wind up in the San Juaquin, Central or Imperial Valleys of CA mostly working on pests.

 

[The Snark]

@Matt Man I get furious just thinking about it. Rubber stamped EIRs, me too permits granted for glyphosate aerial spraying, and clearing a destroyed habitat spawning stream we were prohibited from bringing in heavy equipment, having to pack everything in on our backs.
It's so environmental destruction industry oriented it's downright disgusting.
More power to your niece and daughter. Hopefully they will be among the little bright points of light working towards subverting the dominant paradigm.
Sorry about the tangent. Earth First!

 

[Arachnopotamus Rex]

and typically the only "Bug Science" that is adequately funded are those related to agriculture

Well thats depressing.
I wonder how to find out by how much each of them are lacking.

 

[Matt Man]

@Matt Man I get furious just thinking about it. Rubber stamped EIRs, me too permits granted for glyphosate aerial spraying, and clearing a destroyed habitat spawning stream we were prohibited from bringing in heavy equipment, having to pack everything in on our backs.
It's so environmental destruction industry oriented it's downright disgusting.
More power to your niece and daughter. Hopefully they will be among the little bright points of light working towards subverting the dominant paradigm.
Sorry about the tangent. Earth First!

well the bright side is, these big firms typically hire folks who worked for the state at som point, usually for many years. For starters they have deep familiarity with how the paperwork needs to be properly filed, and second, they still have contacts on the Govt side to help expedite. From all the ones I know,
they are still do-gooders and see themselves as "keeping it straight from the inside" I've yet to see any roll over for their bosses. Typically they file their reports with their suggestions on how to proceed, how and what happens after that is typically beyond their pay grade, in my nieces case, she and her company are
restoring Steelhead populations that access creeks via the SF Bay. They just discovered a small population on San Mateo Creek and are working to improve the habitat. This one is under SFPUCs jurisdiction.

A Steelhead Renaissance in San Mateo Creek - FISHBIO | Fisheries Consultants

San Francisco Estuary Magazine — Rich Johnson steps through an inconspicuous gate between two backyards not far from the downtown San Mateo Caltrain station and points down a steep, overgrown streambank to a piece of PVC piping, barely visible beneath the tumbling water. “That’s our furthest...

fishbio.com

A Steelhead Renaissance in San Mateo Creek – Estuary News Magazine

https://caltrout.org/projects/san-mateo-creek-non-native-removal

and they've just removed Dams on the Klamath and Salmon are returning to their traditional waters

so I'm hopeful at least. My daughter FTR went into cognitive science.

 

[TheraMygale]

I went through the posts, in relation with op question.

i think being at forefront of information can be two things, when we are not part of the 10%.

1- join publications like BTS. Anything new and relevant, will come out there. Of course, when an article is published, months and or years have passed. However, its still relevant. Because when it does publish, you know that science is now “almost” up to date.

2- become a scientist/biologist. You will get connected with other students and mentors. Live feedback in the works. You will get access to private dicords and what not. I am a birder, i dont have access to the academic birder discords. If i did, id have the best photography opportunities. Of course, its private and hush to try and counter black market.

There has to be a third option. There always is. In here comes your ambition. And i encourage you to do it because i do. I find people online through papers, research sites etc. Then, write to them.

you could get an answer. And if they are just students, and you want to help them, who knows.

its 2024. We cant wait for the rich and famous to fund our future. We can do it ourselves, even if at slow paces.

I read what phylogenetic means. Just for the fun of it, seems all trees are phylogenetic. The horticulturist in me finds that funny. But yeah, don’t invite me to your roast.

 

[Matt Man]

There has to be a third option. There aways is. In here comes your ambition. And i encourage you to do it because i do. I find people online through papers, research sites etc. Then, write to them.

OPTION 3 - Become friendly with the experts in the field. Nothing better than being on a. first name basis with the person who wrote the paper

 

[TheraMygale]

OPTION 3 - Become friendly with the experts in the field. Nothing better than being on a. first name basis with the person who wrote the paper

They are just people. Like us. Doing what we might do, or have done, if life turned a different angle.