Project 1: ButterflyNet (Geneology of Life)
The ButterflyNet project will produce a complete species-level butterfly phylogeny, the first of any major insect clade, that will let us organize the approximately 18,800 butterfly species according to their evolutionary relationships. To each species we will then attach all available data on geographic distributions, host plant associations,and other interesting life history traits, collected and compiled from digitized field guides and online resources. When our work is done, the accumulated knowledge from centuries of observations and ongoing research will be made available through ButterflyNet to expert scientists and amateur butterfly enthusiasts alike.
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Funding: NSF
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Collaborators: David Lohman (CUNY), Rob Guralnick (University of Florida), Leslie Ries (Georgetown), Akito Kawahara (University of Florida), Naomi Pierce (Harvard), Walter Jetz (Yale).
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Publications: Espeland et al. 2018, Current Biology.