Tables from the GrylTett Database

Links to the Tables from the GrylTett database (xlsx files)

For more detailed information about the tables see text below, written by Tom Walker in 2019. You can read earlier content about these tables at the GrylTett Database page, which Tom Walker wrote in 2016.

Tables from the GrylTett Database, content by Tom Walker (2019)

The first four tables listed below were judged the most useful to those using SINA, with tblRecordedSongs heading the list because it allows online access to the WTL songs archived by MLNS. Next comes tblMain because it, in combination with tblRecordedSongs, were used to substantiate records used in making SINA’s original distribution maps (displayed in miniature at upper left on all species pages) and in making computer-generated maps of all SINA species in 2003-2004. Links to the computer-generated maps are on the map pages of those species. The only table that has had new records added and old ones updated after the tables were archived in IR@UF in 2016 is tblSpecies. The updated table becomes a record of how and why species names were added and/or changed and how higher classifications were changed in response to continued study and increasing use of genetic data. The fourth “most useful” table is tblFieldNotes.

As noted above, tblSpecies is the only table in the GrylTett database to be updated since the database was archived in 2016. However, on a far earlier date (“5-Jan-03”) the decision had already been made to include the scientific names of Caribbean species needed to document the field recordings of TJW and his students on major islands in the Caribbean (including Hispaniola, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Grand Cayman, and St Croix, but not Cuba). The next-to-last column of tblSpecies is “Date Added”. When editing of tblSpecies ended on 30Aug2020, only 10% of the entries retained the date “5-Jan-03,” the day in 2003 that the table was started. As entries were annotated, their dates in the “Date Added” column were advanced. On the final day of editing, all dates in the “DateEdited” column were changed to “30-Aug-20.”
[To see all species of each SINA genus in alphabetical order, see tblSpeciesSORTED.]

tblRecordedSongs xlsx (6460 records)

This is the database table copied from the 3x5-inch index cards on which all the data for the tape recordings in the Walker Tape Library (WTL) were originally saved. Each species was assigned an identifying number (see tblSpecies) and within each species, each recorded individual was assigned a number (beginning with “1”) and each recording of that individual was assigned a “cut” letter (beginning with “a”). For example, the jumping bush cricket (Orocharis saltator) is species 686 and two of its recordings are identified as 686-2-a and 686-2-b. A total of 53 individuals of species 686 were recorded, which made the last recorded individual of that species "686-53".

One problem with this system was that what was thought to be one species occasionally proved to be two. In fact, this was the case with the jumping bush cricket. When Walker (1969) discovered that what he had considered a southeastern song variant of the jumping bush cricket overlapped with the northwestern song variant in South Carolina, he named the new species Orocharis luteolira and assigned the previously unused species number 681 to the species. This caused many new cards to be added to the cards in the WTL file drawers. For each recording of an individual that had been misidentified, twice as many cards as before were now needed: one with the new species number and one with the record of the erroneous use of another species number. (This might seem unnecessary, but that erroneous species number may have been used in notes about that song or to label an audiospectrogram of it.)

Recognition of common but previously unrecognized species was one reason for the archived version of TblRecordedSongs having 9737 records, whereas the useful version has only 6460. The other reason is easier to explain: not all of the WTL recorded songs were judged valuable enough to send to MLNS to digitize and archive. The songs on magnetic tapes that were not sent to MLNS can no longer be retrieved, but the songs that were sent are now digitally available online.

tblMain xlsx (26,547 records)

The data in tblMain were originally entered onto 8.5x11-inch forms in a series of loose-leaf notebooks with one to many sheets for each SINA species. The data entered came from these three categories of sources:

"SP" = specimen examined (alive or dead, in-the-hand, pinned or in alcohol).

Most of these data came from visits to museums that held authoritatively identified specimens. The museums with the largest, well-organized collections of SINA species were the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology (UMMZ) and the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (ANSP). Others included U. S. National Museum (USNM) and North Carolina State University (NCSU). The purpose of these visits was to establish the geographical distribution and seasonal life history of SINA species from the specimens. Number of SP records = 11,299.

"HS" = song heard in the field but specimen not collected. Usually transcribed from field notes [see tblFieldNotes below]. Number of HS records = 5,065.

"LN" = literature and notes. The literature sources were scientific papers and monographs as listed in allrefs. Notes are any source other than those previously described—primarily personal communications with others via direct contact, U.S. mail, email, or phone. Number of LN records = 10,173 (mostly literature).

tblSpecies xlsx (533 records)

As explained above, this is the only table that has been updated after maintaining an Access 2000 database became impractical. The number of SINA species among the records is n. The other y records are Caribbean species that were assigned species numbers to enable their inclusion in WTL and tblRecordedSongs. In updating tblSpecies during his final days as SINA’s editor, TJW made corrections to six lines of the table that he identified by inserting “30-Jun-21” in column M.

tblFieldNotes xlsx (1443 5x8” cards, 2 large journals, 7 small journals)

In 2013-2014 TJW's field notes were archived by UF's Institutional Repository (IR@UF). An outline of what might have been accomplished is here but the part that is pertinent to SINA is entirely under items II and III.

tblAbbreviations xlsx (78 records)

The abbreviations in this spreadsheet are exclusively those found in other tables in the final Access database. Many are three-letter abbreviations of personnel who contributed to the various projects undertaken in the field and laboratory on the biology and acoustic behavior of crickets and katydids of the southeastern U.S.

tblCommonNames xlsx (102 records)

This table gives access to the common names assigned to SINA genera and other higher categories in 2003. Of more value to SINA users are the ones assigned in 2019, which are the ones easily accessible in SINA’s checklists of crickets and katydids.

tblFieldNoteSources xlsx (10 records)

This table gives the November 2014 locations of the hardcopies of the field notes listed in tblFieldNotes. Their current locations are with the FSCA collection in the Doyle Conner Building. There they are readily accessible to those studying FSCA Ensifera.

tblGeographIDs xlsx (3144 records)

This table lists numerical codes for the states and counties of the United States. These codes were needed to operate the program that produced, in color, in 2003 and 2004, county-level distribution maps of all SINA species. The program and the Access 2000 database it depended on are no longer operable, but the maps that it created are accessible online by links on the map pages of SINA species.

Return to menu of SINA's section on Specimens and Songs of FSCA Ensifera.