Orthoptera Species FileOrthoptera Species File

About

What is currently shown to the public

This first public version of OSF presented by TaxonPages and curated in a TaxonWorks instance, displays an overview of the most relevant information of the database. The design in panels provides the option to download the data in DwC/CSV formats.

All data behind this site is served as JSON through calls to a TaxonWorks API.

What will be shown in the future

New tabs displaying the complete information of the database, as well as different search and filter options, will be progressively developed evaluating the needs of the orthopterists’ community.

If you find apparent errors in this new version, please compare with the data in the old OSF powered by Species File Software, frozen since August, 14 2023. http://orthoptera.archive.speciesfile.org/. Please notify us about any incorrectly migrated data.

Dig deeper in OSF

The TaxonWorks interfaces encompass a wide range of additional filtering and reporting functionalities. If you require extended access to the data, please reach out to us at [ciglianofcnymunlpeduar;

braunfcnymunlpeduar]. For guidance on using filters in TaxonWorks, refer to the help document

available here. Over time, we anticipate that this site will progressively incorporate the extended functionalities present in TaxonWorks. If you have any comments or questions regarding the database, you can contact María Marta Cigliano (ciglianofcnymunlpeduar) or Holger Braun (braunfcnymunlpeduar), or for technical inquiries, reach out to Hernán Pereira (ellocodelassemblergmailcom) or José Pereira (pepeluioutlookcom).

Governance

OSF is managed at three different levels, each having their own tasks and responsibilities:

  1. the Editorial Board
  2. the Governance Committee
  3. the Data Management Team

1. Editorial Board

The Editorial Board includes authors whose main task is to add new data based on published literature, images, and other information, as well as to correct errors in the database.

Editorial policy

The classification and nomenclature of the database reflect the most recent published information following the rules of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN). If a change in classification depends on subjective judgment, and the matter is of sufficient interest that conflicting opinions are likely to be published; then the authors may delay entering the change until a predominant opinion emerges from multiple authors. Controversial issues are resolved by the OSF Governance Committee. However, each conflicting citation is entered with a note giving the opinion of that author. Annual archival copies readily available at Catalogue of life.

2. Governance Committee

The Governance Committee members are appointed by the Director of the database with the approval of the President of the Orthopterists’ Society. The responsibilities of the committee are as follows

  • Grant awards from the endowment (currently about US$30,000 each year). The Orthopterists’ Society, through the OSF, has funds available for supporting database work in varying amounts from year to year. For more information please refer to the grant application guidelines. The Orthoptera Species File Committee is responsible for determining the recipients of such funds.
  • Review proposed changes to higher ranks within the database.
  • Provide advise on design of database and priorities for tasks

Committee members are

  • María Marta Cigliano, Division Entomología, Museo de la Plata, CEPAVE-CONICET, La Plata, Argentina
  • Holger Braun, Division Entomología, Museo de la Plata, La Plata, Argentina
  • Claudia Hemp, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany
  • Sigfrid Ingrisch, Zoologisches Forschungsinstitut und Museum Alexander Koenig, Bonn, Germany
  • Michel Lecoq, Past President, Orthopterists’ Society; Manager, The Ted Cohn Research Fund; Subject Editor, Journal of Orthoptera Research; France
  • Hugh Rowell, Ayer, Switzerland
  • Tony Robillard, Institut Systématique Evolution Biodiversité (ISYEB), Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris, France
  • Hojun Song, Department of Entomology, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology IDP, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA

3. Data Management Team and TaxonWorks development

The Data Management Team, the Species File Group, is based at the Illinois Natural History, University of in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, part of the Prarie Research Institute has core members and collaborators around the world. The Species File Group is responsible for developing TaxonWorks, keeping the database online, protecting its integrity.

The TaxonWorks Community

The work revealed on this website comes from many community meetings, many hours of research, a lot of software and data model development. This includes considerable effort to support impactful culture change and potentially enhanced standards of practice for data capture, sharing resources, knowledge, and workload. Please join the our community via the Species File Group’s regular Wednesday meetings to add your voice to our community and learn more.

Orthopterists’ Society Community participation

The underlying database of this website was prepared in cooperation with the Orthopterists’ Society. The decision to proceed in this manner was deliberate for two reasons: to provide continuity, and because of the magnitude of the job. The database should be a growing and evolving thing that continues past the careers of those who have responsibility for it from time to time. This database was started by Daniel Otte, enhanced first by Piotr Naskrecki and later by David Eades. Later, David Eades selected Maria Marta Cigliano, as his successor, approved by the OSF committee and the Board of the Orthopterists’ Society.

Members of the Orthopterists’ Society doing serious work with Orthoptera are invited to participate in making this website and database better. In most cases this will mean correcting or adding information fitting the individual’s specific research interest. Participation can be at various levels.

  • Communicate comments, suggestions and corrections to Maria Marta Cigliano (send mail ciglianofcnymunlpeduar).
  • Notify about publications to Holger Braun (send mail braunfcnymunlpeduar) for incorporation of data into the database.
  • Submit images and/or sound recordings for inclusion in the database. The source will be acknowledged when users view images or listen to sound recordings.
  • Experts of a group are welcome to:
    • Review the information shown for the group and note any problems.
    • Either edit the database over the Internet to fix any problems, or else communicate the problems to Maria Marta Cigliano. Changes to the database should conform to the editorial policy.
    • Develop new information such as interactive keys. There are many useful ways the project could be expanded. This final level of participation requires some knowledge of computer programming and a serious time commitment. Contact Maria Marta Cigliano if you are interested.

History

Daniel Otte, from the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, USA, developed the initial version of the database, mostly on data from the Zoological Record. His first volume of the Orthoptera Species File was published in 1994 to cover crickets (Grylloidea). Subsequent volumes continued through volume eight in 2000 to complete all Orthoptera. The collaboration between Otte and Piotr Naskrecki led to the first version online of the Orthoptera Species File in 1997. Naskrecki and Otte also published “An Illustrated Catalog of Orthoptera, Vol. I. Tettigonioidea (Katydids or bush-crickets)” in CD-ROM format, in 1999.

David Eades, the founder of the Species File Group at Illinois Natural History Survey, USA, currently retired, with the approval of Otte and Naskrecki submitted a proposal to the Orthopterists’ Society that established the basis for version two of the Orthoptera Species File. Data from the Tettigonioidea CD-ROM was imported to a new database, the incipient Species File software, which provided cross checking of data. Import of all data from previous versions of the Orthoptera Species File was completed in July 2002. The much more complex programming required for editing the data was developed gradually while the data was being imported. New data based on the Zoological Record was brought current in September 2004. Programming to support keys and specimen data was completed in 2005. Also in 2005, Eades and Paul Brock, from the Natural History Museum, London, initiated the Phasmida Species File. Other Species Files were developed, such as Aphid Species File, Cockroach Species File, Coreoidea Species File, Lygaeoidea Species File, Psocodea Species File, Mantodea Species File, and Plecoptera Species File.

Since March 2010, data entry responsibility has been transferred to the Museo de La Plata, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina, under the leadership of Maria Marta Cigliano and Holger Braun as the principal author.

Funding

Work on OSF is funded by an endowment to the Orthopterists’ Society through the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. The endowment provides a relatively rare environment within the field of biodiversity informatics, i.e. fixed funding for long term research and development.