For fun I've created a site that searches three data sources - NCBI, Yahoo images, and Google Scholar for information on a taxonomic name. If you type in a name you get information on whether that organism has been sequenced (and if so, how many sequences are available), the first five images Yahoo finds on the web, and up to 10 documents from Google Scholar (with DOIs and links to PubMed, where available ).
If you'd like to try it go to http://ispecies.org (you'll get forwarded to a machine here in Glasgow).
I know there are all sorts of problems with searching on names, but I've found it to be fun to see just how much information is out there.
Example links to try are:
http://darwin.zoology.gla.ac.uk/~rpage/ispecies/?q=Pediculus+humanus http://darwin.zoology.gla.ac.uk/~rpage/ispecies/?q=Rhea+americana http://darwin.zoology.gla.ac.uk/~rpage/ispecies/?q=Anthonomus+grandis http://darwin.zoology.gla.ac.uk/~rpage/ispecies/? q=Florinemestrius+pulcherrimus http://darwin.zoology.gla.ac.uk/~rpage/ispecies/?q=Agathis+australis http://darwin.zoology.gla.ac.uk/~rpage/ispecies/?q=Banksia+coccinea
Please be aware that the image search can sometime produce images you might not want children or the faint hearted to see -- despite Yahoo claiming it filters adult content. You have been warned...
Comments welcome.
Regards
Rod
Professor Roderic D. M. Page Editor, Systematic Biology DEEB, IBLS Graham Kerr Building University of Glasgow Glasgow G12 8QP United Kingdom
Phone: +44 141 330 4778 Fax: +44 141 330 2792 email: r.page@bio.gla.ac.uk web: http://taxonomy.zoology.gla.ac.uk/rod/rod.html reprints: http://taxonomy.zoology.gla.ac.uk/rod/pubs.html
Subscribe to Systematic Biology through the Society of Systematic Biologists Website: http://systematicbiology.org Search for taxon names at http://darwin.zoology.gla.ac.uk/~rpage/portal/