This project is a direct consequence of the many discussions that have taken place the Museum corridors during the past 50 years on how to document the Venezuelan insect biodiversity.
From the time of Pablo Anduze (1902-1989) and Francisco Fernández-Yépez (1923-1986) there were many the attempts to systematically record the insect biodiversity of Venezuela. Early attempts included the development of a punch card system that recorded pest species and their host plants and included a rudimentary query/filter system that consisted in sliding a thin metal bar through the stack of cards and lift up the cards with the desired property unpunched.
In the early 1990's a database developed in Postgresql and a front-end coded in PHP was the first attempt to produce an on-line atlas of Venezuelan insects, this effort was called "Centro Nacional de Referencia de Artrópodos". Much of the ideas developed in those years are still valid in the current development.
The main contributors in this current effort are:
- Marco Antonio Gaiani, MIZA (coordination, system developer, data compilation & documentation).
- Andrew Neild (provided most of the data on diurnal Lepidoptera, and many photographs).
- Mauro Costa (Lepidoptera of Pantepui, data and photos).
- Andrés Orellana, UNET (Hesperiidae).
- Robert Robbins, USNM (reviewed and edited the initial Lycaenidae list).
- Quintín Arias, MIZA (photographs of many specimens from MIZA's collections).
- José Clavijo, MIZA (Moths)
- Jurg DeMarmels, MIZA (Diurnal leps)