GBOL III: Dark Taxa

Description

The BMBF-funded GBOL, the German Barcode of Life initiative, has been run successfully over the last eight years. It delivered an operative DNA barcode reference library for German animals, fungi and plants. However, a significant proportion of insect taxa has so far been excluded from GBOL and merely all biodiversity research, because no or only very insufficient expertise and information are available that allow to get a grip on them. They are called “Dark Taxa”. The most severe gaps can be found in the “lower Diptera” (gnats and midges), some families of Brachycera (flies) and the parasitoid Hymenoptera (Fig. 1). In the light of the alarming insect decline in Germany and elsewhere, these hyperdiverse Dark Taxa move into the focus of current and future research.

The goal of GBOL III: Dark Taxa is to increase the knowledge on the German fauna within the two most diverse and understudied groups Diptera and Hymenoptera.

The project partners are the ZFMK, the Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart, the Staatlichen naturwissenschaftlichen Sammlungen Bayerns, the University of Würzburg and the Entomologischer Verein Krefeld.

The central coordination and the project lead of GBOL III: Dark Taxa will be housed at the ZFMK. Scheduled start: 03/2020.

Location