The
Butterflies and Moths of North America (BAMONA) project is supported through a partnership among the
USGS National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII), the
Big Sky Institute at
Montana State University, and the
USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center. NBII Partner Kelly Lotts will present a poster and oral presentation about this project at the
59th Annual Meeting of the Lepidopterists' Society (LepSoc 2010), July 8-11, 2010 in Leavenworth, WA. What began as two independent repositories of butterfly and moth county records compiled for lepidopterists,
BAMONA has grown into a vast citizen science project with hundreds of volunteers. As of May, the
BAMONA Web site provided access to a database of more than 275,000 butterfly and moth occurrence records, over 3,000 photographs, and more than 4,500 species pages. Quality-controlled data contributed by lepidopterists and citizen scientists from across the United States and Mexico are publicly available via checklists and maps. By fall, the
BAMONA project will take another big leap when a new version of the Web site is launched to the public. This improved
BAMONA site will include Canadian data, maps displaying point data and recent submissions, and a new online, streamlined submission/review process. In addition, a Web Mapping Service of the
BAMONA data will be published so that interested scientists can utilize these data in mapping applications. At
LepSoc 2010, Ms. Lotts will strengthen existing collaborations with the
Lepidopterists' Society, seek new partnerships with amateur and professional lepidopterists, and promote public participation and use of this international dataset.
Photo: Echo Azure (Celastrina echo). Photo by © Kelly Lotts.
