Until 1987, the Swiss entomological Society (SES) was the only
institution to publish synthetic works on the Invertebrates fauna of Switzerland. The series was called Insecta Helvetica and
treated, by definition, only Insects.
In 1987, the CSCF published the Atlases of distribution of Butterflies
and Dragonflies of Switzerland in a new series:
Documenta Faunistica Helvetiae.
The originality of these works was to propose distribution maps in
addition to phenological and ecological information for each species. As the
contents of this new series were close to that of the "Catalogus" in
the Insecta Helvetica series, it was decided to optimise the forces and the
means, that the latter would only publish the works of identification (Fauna). This solution has continued for 10
years.
In 1998, the SES and the CSCF decided to give up their respective series
and to publish together a new series, "Fauna Helvetica", devoted to
the publication of scientific papers of quality and, if possible, more
attractive for the (informed) public. On the other hand it was never questioned
that the CSCF and the SES launches in the publication of vulgarisation works with
a" large audience", this niche being already largely occupied by big publishing
houses.
The works published in "Fauna Helvetica" are always the result
of national syntheses. Their contents
vary, according to the treated groups, of the "simple" list of
species, with the key of identification or the illustrated atlas of distribution.
The current tendency is however to gather them all in the same work in order to
increase its interest. In most of the cases, the introductory chapters and the identification
keys at least are bilingual (French/German), and even trilingual (French/German/Italian).
