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The lepidopterists of Switzerland

Initiator of the project
The Group of Lepidopterologists of Switzerland whose first objective is to catalyse the conservation of the indigenous lepidopterist fauna by the accumulation and the publication of original data on their ecology, on the threats that intimidate their populations and the measures to cultivate their survival.  

Description
Active for more than twenty years, the Group of Lepidopterologists of Switzerland have produced a series of three works, in German and French, which are today considered as reference works for this field: 

  • Butterflies and their biotops (1987) which deals with Papilionidae, Pieridae, Nymphalidae, Satyridae and Lycenidae.
  • Lepidoptera and their biotops.  Volume 2 (1999) which deals with Hesperiidae, Psychidae, Heterogynidae, Zygaenidae, Syntomidae, Limacodidae, Drepanidae, Thyatiridae and of Sphingidae.
  • Lepidoptera and their biotops.  Volume 3 (2005) which deals with Hepialidae, Cossidae, Sesiidae, Thyrididae, Lasiocampidae, Lemonidae, Endromidae, Saturniidae, Bombycidae, Notodontidae, Thaumetopoeidae, Dilobidae, Lymantriidae and of Arctiidae.

As the standard adopted to carry out these three publications are very high (description and illustration of the morphology of the larval, nymphal and imaginal stages of each species, description of their respective ecology and habitats), the group has decided not to extend the work to the 1000 species belonging the two remaining families of Macrolepidoptera (Noctuidae and Geometridae).

The group members however committed themselves to joining their efforts to make a synthesis of the knowledge accumulated on the distribution of Noctuelles in Switzerland , and to publish the results in the Fauna Helvetica series.  This new episode, whose effective work has already begun, envisages original drawings for each species, the inventory of all collections in Swiss Museums and as many private collections as possible.  It envisages the compilation of the field notes of the principal lepidopterologists who have worked in the various areas of the country during the last twenty years.

The CSCF for its part was committed to continuing its assistance of the last two decades to this remarkable initiative:  encoding, seizing and/or uploading of data: to produce distribution maps; drafting of the French versions. It will even extend its assistance by taking part in raising the expenses required to carry out the work and its publication.

Deadline
As a major part of work that needae to be carried out to achieve this goal, is purely voluntary, no precise deadline can be given for the publication of this volume.