Leptree Objectives

LepTree seeks, first, to foster interaction and collaboration among all researchers on lepidopteran phylogeny, hoping to speed global progress toward a fully resolved tree. This site will provide a set of interactive Community Tools allowing lepidopterists to exchange information bearing on their research and potential collaborations. The web tools will be flexible and low-maintenance; we hope to establish a virtual community that will long outlive our initial funding.

For the period 2006-2010, LepTree will also carry out three specific community-based initiatives addressing major gaps in understanding of lepidopteran phylogeny. These are:

(1) a Current Lep Knowledge Project, constructing a comprehensive on-line collaborative database of past and current research on lepidopteran phylogeny;

(2) a Molecular Project, using nuclear gene sequences to estimate a “backbone” phylogeny of relationships among superfamilies and families; and

(3) a Morphology project, creating a comprehensive illustrated on-line glossary of morphological features that resolves the current conflicts of terminology and homology for problematic structures. The intent is to facilitate eventual construction of an all-families morphological character matrix.

The overall structure of the LepTree project is summarized in this figure: