EDIT Insects

The insect exemplar group has a diverse approach to bringing revisionary taxonomy to the web. We are encouraging a ‘bottom up’ approach, where experts establish Scratchpads (a content management system for taxonomy) for the taxonomic group they are studying and are free to choose the scope and quantity of data they deliver and the way in which these data are delivered. As of September 2008, there are about 20 insect Scratchpads ranging from simple start pages to elaborate sites with many users (see for example http://blattodea-culture-group.org, http://phthiraptera.myspecies.info, and http://phasmida.myspecies.info). Insect Scratchpads offer diverse data, for example simple pages about entomological societies, species pages, bibliographies, taxonomic classifications, distribution maps, images, and character matrices. As data accumulate, many Scratchpads are expected to develop into focal websites for their taxa and a hub for cooperation among the experts.

Focal taxa of the insect exemplar group are Lepidoptera (http://www.cate-sphingidae.org, www.nepticuloidea.myspecies.info) and Diptera (www.milichiidae.info, www.sciaroidea.info).

To attract further expert networks for Lepidoptera a workshop was held at the XVth European Congress of Lepidopterology in Berlin, September 2007 and a mailing list was set up. In addition, cooperation between EDIT and LepTree (www.leptree.net) has been agreed. The LepTree website and the Scratchpads are both based on the Drupal CMS platform but have developed different modules. Also, we share similar challenges of motivating and supporting a community that is willing in theory to use online tools but is slow to adopt them. We are likely to coordinate respective searches for funding to strengthen our relationship and merge our respective tools.

Cooperation with The Diptera Site (Chris Thompson, www.diptera.org) and with FLYTREE (www.inhs.uiuc.edu/research/FLYTREE) resulted in a new Diptera Scratchpad (www.diptera.myspecies.info) which has taken over most of The Diptera Site except for the pages linked to the BioSystematic Database of World Diptera, and enables and encourages dipterists worldwide to participate. The site includes general data on Diptera, links, images, taxon and project pages. Plans include a common Diptera bibliography and a glossary of morphological terms. 'The 'new' Diptera Site' collaborates closely with the Encyclopedia of Life and will be used to generate species pages for EOL. This development is an encouraging step to common usage and strong signal by the community of a willingness to integrate effort.

In cooperation with WP5 the insect exemplar group Scratchpads will be used as an example for the import of data from the Scratchpads into the Common Data Model of the internet platform. Additionally, the genus Milichiella (Diptera: Milichiidae) serves as an example for a web revision on a Scratchpad (www.milichiidae.info/content/milichiella-online-revision) and the Sphingidae, which are part of the CATE project (Creating a Taxonomic e-Science, http://www.cate-sphingidae.org, which is delivering web revisions, serve as an example for a web revision within the CATE model. The family Milichiidae serves also as a zoological testbed for the Diptera portal and taxonomic editor developed by WP5.

If you are interested in participating in one of the insect exemplar groups or in setting up a new network, please contact Irina Brake (i.brake@nhm.ac.uk).