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 November 2009, there are over 25 insect Scratchpads ranging from sites with few pages to elaborate sites with many data and 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 taxon of the insect exemplar group are the Diptera (diptera.myspecies.info, milichiidae.info, sciaroidea.info).

The 'new' Diptera Site originated in The Diptera Site by Chris Thompson (www.diptera.org) and has taken over most pages except for the pages linked to the BioSystematic Database of World Diptera. The site includes general data on Diptera, links, images, species and project pages. It enables and encourages dipterists worldwide to participate.  'The 'new' Diptera Site' collaborates with FLYTREE (www.inhs.uiuc.edu/research/FLYTREE) and the Encyclopedia of Life in generating 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 (milichiidae.info/content/milichiella-online-revision). 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).