It is our goal to facilitate access to information, such as curated collections, databases, keys and other tools for identification, and, of course, publications on the taxonomy and conservation of tropical Andean butterflies. Furthermore, we hope that future research and conservation priorities identified by this project represent the consensus view of all those who work on or have an interest in tropical Andean butterflies. It is therefore a major aim of this project to involve as many individuals, groups, organisations, institutions, projects, initiatives and companies who are concerned with the region's butterfly fauna. We thus invite you to participate in this project and we hope that such involvement will be mutually beneficial. In exchange for your involvement, the project may be able to offer:

   - assistance with specimen identification during visits to Andean countries or through photographs sent by e-mail
   - digital or hard copies of literature
   - specimen data and photographs, including type photographs, as available on this website or by special request
   - contacts to other specialists
   - opportunities for co-authorship on publications
   - advice on field and analytical techniques
   - assistance in obtaining research, collecting and export permits
   - acknowledgements in project publications, media and publicity via this website

There are a number of ways to become involved in the project:

Distribution and abundance data

We are attempting to gather as much data as possible on the distribution and abundance of tropical Andean butterflies. The Darwin Tropical Andean Butterfly Database will contain data from the Natural History Museum, London, the McGuire Center for Lepidoptera, Gainesville, and numerous other collections for certain groups, and will be available for searching via this website. We welcome any additional distribution datasets, with accurate and reliably locality data (ideally including elevation, latitude and longitude) and taxon identification. Such data may be made available online as part of the Darwin Database, or accessible via this website but maintained as a separate database on your own server, or incorporated into analyses of research and conservation priorities but not made public, depending on your wishes.

Research and publications

We would like to assist those conducting research on tropical Andean butterflies. Students who take part in courses can apply for scholarships to assist with field work expenses. Taxonomic experts may assist us by offering to identify specimens within their area of expertise, and in return receive distribution data and, where possible and if required, specimens. We would like to receive digital copies of any publications relevant to Andean butterflies, to be made available on this website, to broaden the circulation and access of such publications.

Andean country collections

One aim of this project is to expand and improve Andean country collections. Individuals may consider donating specimens to public collections (click here for lists of collections already participating with this project in Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia) to provide access to such specimens and information for this project and all other butterfly researchers. Taxonomic experts may consider offering to help with identification and curation of parts of public collections, either through personal visits or via e-mail.

Student courses

Students and other eligible individuals may apply for admission to training courses to be conducted by the project in tropical Andean countries in 2006 and 2007. We welcome the involvement of researchers and others working on tropical Andean butterflies who volunteer to assist with these courses. Such assistant could include giving a talk on your research work or other relevant topic, help with field portions of the courses through supervision of students, and help with other organisational aspects. Lodges, hotels or research stations who are able to host the courses and offer a discount will receive acknowledgements in all project publications and publicity via this website.

Publicity

Please advertise this project or otherwise inform others so that as many people as possible may participate and contribute. Advertisements for student courses will be available in digital form soon. If you wish your name, project, publications or website to be listed on this website please inform us.

Conference on Tropical Andean Butterflies

We plan a conference on tropical Andean butterflies for the summer of 2008, to be held in one of the Andean countries. More information about the conference will be available in late 2007, but please consider attending this conference to publicise your research, meet others interested in tropical Andean butterflies and contribute to developing a regional strategy for research and conservation.

Make a donation

If you would like to make a donation to the project, including scholarships for students to attend courses and conduct thesis research, funds for databasing collections, provision of travel expenses to enable students and researchers to attend the conference in 2008, equipment for student courses and field research, or for any other purpose, we would greatly appreciate it.

Contact us

Please contact Keith Willmott (kwillmott@flmnh.ufl.edu), Blanca Huertas (b.huertas@nhm.ac.uk) or other project coordinators in each country for further information and details.