Butterflies and Skippers of the African tropics on CD
Afrotropical
Butterflies and Skippers is a digital format encyclopaedia,
on compact disk (CD), that currently comprises over 3 000 pages
of text and images. It contains all the names (generic to infraspecific,
including synonyms) that have been applied to the Papilionoidea
(butterflies) and Hesperioidea (skippers) of the Afrotropical
(= Ethiopian) zoogeographical region. For each of the more than
10 500 names, the complete journal reference is given. The type
locality/locality for each taxon is also provided. The distribution
for each species and subspecies has also been included, but
is still far from complete.
Iolaus dubiosa. Click here for
example treatment
The taxonomic
portion of the encyclopaedia is based on the monumental catalogue
Carcasson's African Butterflies, edited by Ackery, and
others, of the Natural History Museum, London, and published
by the CSIRO, Australia, in 1995. This work, unfortunately,
included only publications up to about 1990. Publications that
appeared between 1990 and 1995, and which were not included
in "Carcasson's", have been given taxonomic priority,
should there be non-concordance. Since 1990, almost 500 new
species and subspecies of butterflies and skippers have been
described from the Afrotropical Region. There have also been
many other taxonomic changes.
The Afrotropical
Region covers sub-Saharan Africa, Madagascar and other off shore
islands, as well as the southern parts of the Arabian Peninsula.
The encyclopaedia
also includes a list of all the publications (more than 2000),
for the last 25 years (1977 onwards), that have a bearing on
Afrotropical butterflies and skippers. This should serve as
a valuable resource for accessing both the taxonomic and other
recent literature.
Charaxes varanes. Click here for
example treatment
Expansion
of the encyclopaedia on a continuous basis will include updating
of taxonomic changes and updating and expansion of the bibliography.
In addition, archived information regarding the biology of each
taxon will gradually be added. This will include data on distribution,
habitat, habits, flight period, early stages, and larval foods
and associations. Finally, the current 2 700 digital images
of adult butterflies will be added to. A further envisaged development
will be the inclusion of digital images of the early stages,
larval host plants, and habitats.
The price
for the CD (from May 2003) is R300 for South Africa and $50
or £30 outside the RSA. The price for annual updates (available
in November of every year) is R100 for South Africa and $20
or £12 outside the RSA.
Ten per
cent of gross sales income will be donated to the Lepidopterists'
Society of Africa. The material on the CD is copyrighted and
subscribers are requested not to make illegal copies. The CD
is for a Windows operating environment and is in MS Word.
The CD
is available from me at the following address:
Prof. M.
C. Williams
183 van der Merwe Street
Rietondale 0084
Pretoria
Republic of South Africa
E-mail:
mark.williams@up.ac.za
Telephone: + 27 (012) 329-3228 (H).
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