Description of the project:

Information System ZInsecta is intended for gathering author's projects on insect systematics and structure of entomological collections. It may include:

• databases with hierarchical classification of insects of the World or regional faunae, which consist of valid scientific names of taxa, including synonyms.
• databases with the lists of collected specimens deposited in the ZIN collection as well as in other museums, including all data from labels.
• databases of type specimens of the ZIN collection.
• geographical databases used in classification of locality data from the labels.

Separate classifiers and classifiers within listed databases are developed. These classifiers (codes of ranks, codes of valid scientific names, codes of countries and other geographical regions, codes of museums and collectors, codes of figures and data bases etc.) allow to combine our data with data in the whole interactive Information System.

High level classification of insects with "on-line" output into the classifications of some orders have been arranged on the site ZInsecta in the first years of the project. Classifications of some orders (Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, Neuroptera, Odonata, Diptera) have been performed through classifications of some families (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae, Hymenoptera: Braconidae, Neuroptera: Myrmeleontidae) to species level, and to the lists of specimens of ZIN and others collection including illustrations of some specimens (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontidae).

Authors of the project:
Principal Investigator: Victor A. KRIVOKHATSKY,
Main participants: Sergey A. BELOKOBYLSKIJ, Mikhail B. DIANOV, Andrey L. LOBANOV, Gleb S. MEDVEDEV.

Information System of the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences ZInsecta is supported by RFBR, grant  ¹ 01-07-90284 (2001-2003) "The establishment of Information system on entomological collections of the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences consisting of conjunct databases, with displaying of check-lists of taxa and of type specimens of insects in interactive form on the Internet".