Working Group 2
The biggest challenge of sequencing all the genomes of Lepidoptera in a certain region is collecting the species using appropriate protocols for high quality sequencing. WG2 brings together species experts and genomics experts through field workshops. The 10,000 species of Lepidoptera in Europe comprise some easy to find and identify species, as well as many groups of species that are very difficult to identify in the field or are distributed very locally. Through WG2 such areas will be identified, and rare and difficult species collected. Collection of specimens will be done in dialogue with the Psyche project, which will receive the specimens for genome sequencing.
WG2 Objectives
- Identify areas in Europe with high species diversity and/or endemism and organise field workshops to collect all target species of Lepidoptera from such areas for sequencing of reference genomes (WG3) or for population genomic studies (WG5).
- Engage with expert societies to bring species experts in contact with genomics experts during field workshops. Ensure knowledge exchange between species experts and genomics experts in order to foster innovation in evolutionary questions.
- Revise and update the European checklist of Lepidoptera based on expert information and new genomic results.