Le Charançon: Catalogues & Keys - Introduction

Le Charançon - Catalogues & Keys

The new and always topical weevil encyclopedia has got a name: ’Le Charançon’ (’The Weevil’). With this innovation of the CURCULIO-Institute, we say good-bye to the static catalogues and keys printed on paper, that become obsolete from the first second of their publication and that are able to maintain their position only by hard to find supplements. ’Le Charançon’ aims to be an adaptable and always current Internet journal.

Scientific research is the most suitable field to utilise the advantages of the digital age. Isn’t it tempting to leave the old-fashioned existence of an entomologist, to present one’s results to the plenary meeting and to be able to exchange one’s knowledge with colleagues, collectors and entomologically interested persons at the same time? And not only years after the discovery, but virtually in the same second as when one is claiming to have a new record? All changes in the distribution of a species caused - for example - by global warming can be reported without any delay.

’Le Charançon’ enables you to do so for the first time! Please present your family, genus or group of Curculionoidea to the world! You may produce a national faunistic work, richly illustrated and with numerous distributional maps, and you may present your current state of knowledge at any time. Elaborate keys can be shortened to a useful pictorial key, and you will receive feedback from the scientific community, as your contribution will be found all over the world by the search machines.

You are the only one being responsible for your contribution. You will be able to rework, complete and extend it online at any time. However, taxonomic contributions cannot (at present) be published by ‘Le Charançon’, due to the ‘International Code of Zoological Nomenclature’ (ICZN 1999).

The best and most extensive catalogue will fail if the necessary care is lacking. What is the sense of ambitious projects aimed to build up a global databank if they are not maintained with the necessary care? If the information does not match the current state of knowledge then the whole effort is put into question? There is an advantage to publish clearly arranged contributions that are capable of ongoing review by the specialists of a group: Publish in ‘Le Charançon’ - Catalogues and Keys’ now!

For more information we are at your disposal: Christoph Germann, CH-Bern (Editor of ’Le Charançon - Catalogues & Keys’, CURCULIO-Institute), e-mail: chrisgerm@web.de