 | The following is a draft working towards a proposal for adoption as a Wikipedia policy, guideline, or process. The proposal must not be taken to represent consensus, but is still in development and under discussion, and has not yet reached the process of gathering consensus for adoption. Thus references or links to this page should not describe it as policy, guideline, nor yet even as a proposal. |
- This page represents the opinion of one editor and does not have consensus, either from WP:SPIDERS or wider.
Based partly on the featured article Redback spider, an outline structure for spider articles can be suggested.
One area in which there is considerable variation in existing articles is the order of the Taxonomy and Description sections, which also varies in other articles about organisms. It seems to be agreed that these should be the first two sections, but not what their order should be. The section headings below can be expanded as appropriate.
Taxonomy edit
Covers the first describer, etymology of the scientific name, classification and phylogeny.
Divisions edit
For genera and higher ranks, this section includes a subsection listing the divisions, e.g. species for genus articles, genera for family articles. The actual section heading would be "Species", "Genera", etc.
Description edit
Physical description (i.e. morphology).
Behavior edit
(Or "Behaviour" depending on the WP:ENGVAR in use.) Life cycle, reproduction, web, and prey capture can be included here.
Distribution and habitat edit
Distinguish between native and introduced distributions.
Ecology edit
Interactions with other species, either as predator or prey.
Threats and conservation edit
Rarely needed for spiders other than tarantulas.
Interaction with humans edit
Species with medically significant bites would have properly sourced material here; sources must respect WP:MEDRS when medical issues are involved.
Cultural significance edit
Rarely appropriate for spiders!
References edit
Output your references here using {{reflist}} or a similar template.
External links edit
Links to content about the species at other websites such as Wikimedia Commons or BugGuide.
Include a {{taxonbar}} – the section heading is not needed if this is the only content.