Saxon butterfly experts meet in Chemnitz
On 18 February, the 15th annual conference of Saxony's butterfly experts will take place at the Museum für Naturkunde Chemnitz. Lepidopterists - this is the name given to those experts who specialise in the study of butterflies. Around 30 to 40 professional and amateur researchers from Saxony and neighbouring federal states are expected to attend.
An important aim of the meeting is to promote co-operation between butterfly experts in order to counteract the loss of species more effectively. The main topics of this year's meeting are the development of online projects and the photography of butterflies.
In Saxony alone, there are more than 2,600 butterfly species, some of which are still very little known. Around half of these have already found their way onto the Red Lists of endangered species, and 10% of local butterflies are threatened with extinction.
"You can only protect what you know," says Sven Erlacher, research assistant and responsible for insects at the Museum für Naturkunde Chemnitz. He is one of the organisers of the conference. For him, it goes without saying that the butterfly experts will find a place to exchange knowledge and experience at the museum. Because, according to the biologist, "natural history museums are the archives of species. This is where they are collected, organised and scientifically analysed. This also includes the development of distribution maps and illustrations - the main focus of the conference."
Distribution maps, species profiles and photographic documentation are increasingly being published on the internet in order to reach as large an audience as possible as quickly as possible. There is also a pilot project of this kind at the Chemnitz Natural History Museum. Together with the associations of insect researchers (entomologists) in Saxony, Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt, the museum collects and presents all documented observations of moths in Central Germany from their beginnings in the middle of the 18th century to the present day. This is the first time that research into this subgroup of butterflies has been institutionalised.
Sven Erlacher, entomologist at the museum, and Volker Annacker, supervisor of the Insectarium and IT specialist, will present the project for the state database of the Geometridae of Thuringia, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt at the conference(www.naturkundemuseum-chemnitz.de/spanner).
More than 260,000 records are currently being maintained. They form the basis for measures to conserve endangered species. The Red Lists are also based on this data pool. Specialist colleagues, representatives of nature conservation organisations, planning offices, scientists and interested members of the public can already obtain an overview of each individual species. Further work will provide automatically generated distribution maps, phenology and altitude diagrams as well as texts on the biology and photos of the individual species.
Link to the butterfly pilot project of the Museum für Naturkunde:
http://www.naturkundemuseum-chemnitz.de/spanner
[Enter e.g. "albipunctata" in the search field and click on the name that appears].
Photos to choose from:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/27t6t41i3ezcaey/AAACUsIEnT2NofzcuzdUkIzAa
Photo_01: In 2013, a conference of Saxon butterfly experts took place at the Museum für Naturkunde Chemnitz.
Photo_02: Part of the butterfly collection of the Museum für Naturkunde Chemnitz
Photo_03: Detail from the collection of peeper-like moths at the Museum für Naturkunde Chemnitz
Photo_04: The "mourning moth" - one of the approx. 370 moth species in Central Germany
Photo_05: The "elm leaf moth" - a rare moth from Saxony
For further information please contact:
City of Chemnitz, Culture Department,
Museum of Natural History
Sven Erlacher,
Tel. 0371 488-4553;
E-mail: erlacher(at)naturkunde-chemnitz.de