Diario del proyecto Moths of Asia

please see the journal post on the Moths of Iran project....
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/moths-of-iran/journal/76651-lepidoptera-iranica

National Moth Week celebrates the beauty, life cycles, and habitats of moths.

“Moth-ers” of all ages and abilities are encouraged to learn about, observe, and document moths in their backyards, parks, and neighbourhoods.

National Moth Week is being held, worldwide, during the last full week of July. NMW offers everyone, everywhere, a unique opportunity to become a Citizen Scientist and contribute scientific data about moths. Through partnerships with major online biological data depositories, NMW participants can help map moth distribution and provide needed information on other life history aspects around the globe.

Whilst in Asia, India and Hong Kong have been long associated with NMW, much of the rest of Asia has been poorly represented. Can you help change that??
If so, please try to organise and register a mothing event for NMW to take place over the week of 17th to 25th July 2021.

Even better - can you coordinate your country's NMW?
NMW is looking for country coordinators to help facilitate Asian and global awareness of moths and their ecological significance. If you think you can help, or would like to collaborate with NMW, please contact the NMW team.

Many thanks and happy (& covid-safe) mothing.

Looking for an activity that’s safe, fun and enriching for all ages while social distancing or sheltering at home?

The ninth annual National Moth Week, July 18-26, invites novice and experienced “moth-ers,” alike, to observe these fascinating creatures in their own backyards and contribute to our scientific knowledge as part of one of the world’s largest citizen science projects.

As people likely will continue avoiding crowds this summer to slow the spread of COVID-19 infections, National Moth Week (NMW) offers the opportunity to learn about nighttime nature from the safety of backyards and gardens; porches, decks and balconies – anywhere a light can be turned on.
Information and registration at www.nationalmothweek.org

A really big thanks to all contributors of moth observations to the various national and regional level iNaturalist projects under the Moths of Asia umbrella
MoA has now reached 200,000 observations

Here's to the next 200,000 by the end of 2021

An event for all lepidopterists with an interest in the West Asian Lepidoptera fauna

The First International Congress of Near East Lepidoptera will be held in Yerevan, Armenia on 15-18 June 2020.

Congress fee 50$ | Gala dinner 20$ | Field trip and excursion 30$

The deadline for submitting the abstracts is 20 February 2020.
You can send the abstract by e-mail to nzarikian@gmail.com. The registration form will be sent by e-mail after receiving the abstract. https://www.yumpu.com/xx/document/view/62900573/abstracttemplate

More info and updates on the Congress' Facebook page . . .
https://www.facebook.com/The-First-International-Congress-of-Near-East-Lepidoptera-110305253736824

https://www.biotaxa.org/em/article/view/58551/58785

Volynkin et al., 2019
(@volynkin )
Ecologica Montenegrina 26: 14-92

An overview of genera and subgenera of the Asura / Miltochrista generic complex (Lepidoptera, Erebidae, Arctiinae). Part 1. Barsine Walker, 1854 sensu lato, Asura Walker, 1854 and related genera, with descriptions of twenty new genera, ten new subgenera and a check list of taxa of the Asura / Miltochrista generic complex

The many nomenclatural changes in this recently published paper will be incorporated into the iNat scheme of life in due course. It may take a few months!

The Moths of Asia now encompasses projects from all Asia with the exception of Myanmar (Burma) as the country isn't mapped properly yet. Additionally, Indonesia is over-represented, as Bali gets in twice. I need to set up a collections project for the Asian areas of Indonesia to be included within this group, then drop the existing Indonesian moth projects. Once that's done, all will be well.....

http://nationalmothweek.org/register-a-nmw-event-2019/

Still time to register - even for private events that contribute to raising awareness

Only 6 weeks away and now only two weeks left for abstract submission and event registration . . . hurry, hurry, hurry..... places going fast....
registration is via the ALCS 5 website

The theme of the symposium will be "Impacts of Climate Change on Asian Lepidoptera".

The first two days (Dec 13 and 14) of the 5th ALCS will be hosted by the University of Hong Kong and will feature presentations and discussion regarding research and conservation of Lepidoptera in the region.
The final day (Dec 15) will be hosted by the Environmental Association and will feature discussion of community-initiated butterfly conservation.

This is an "umbrella" project pulling together data from traditional and "collection" iNaturalist projects that record and document moths in various geographic entities in Asia.
It will, eventually, pool data for all Asia, once all the relevant projects have been started on iNat - though this will take time and effort from each nation / area to assist with the operation of the relevant project in said areas.
For now, there are some 64 thousand observations of over 3,500 species by almost 1,800 observers. None too bad for a group of insects with a bad p.r. image!

If the country you live in has not been covered by a relevant iNaturalist project, I am really happy to hear from you and will help you get started running a moth recording project on iNat that covers somewhere in Asia that isn't on this project's radar yet - that currently means Japan, Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and all central, northern and western Asia. Whilst the tropical areas harbour a massive number of species (and people!), the more montane and arid areas have their own unique species. The representation of the unique Asian moth biodiversity is what this project is really about.......