The study of lepidoptera in Catalonia has had followers since about the middle of the last century. It was in 1874 when Miquel Martorell published the first "Cataleg dels lepidopters de Catalunya". Later, at the turn of the century, the naturalists are grouped in the "Institucion Catalana d'Historia Natural" (ICHN). In this society and in the Zoology Museum of Barcelona, a remarkable activity was going to take place on the knowledge about the fauna of lepidoptera in the country.
It was in ICHN where the "Comission de Lepidopterologia" was created, which started to have a specialized activity on the subject and where scholars and enthusiasts of butterflies were brought together. This commission was the embryo that brought about the "Societat Catalana de Lepidopterologia" (SCL), which was founded in November of 1978.
The SCL has developed a progressively growing activity since its foundation and currently boasts 142 members, professionals as well as amateurs, devoted to the study of lepidoptera, in Catalonia as well as from other places. It has 28 subscribers to the publications.
The SCL is a society whose main goals are the following:
..To promote and collect the studies of fauna of the lepidoptera and the biology, systematic ecology, and distribution of lepidoptera, mainly in Catalonia.
..To protect the fauna of lepidoptera and its habitats.
..To spread the knowledge and to inform about the investigations mentioned above.
..The coordination and collaboration of the mentioned goals with other similar societies.
Publications are an important activity that is being carried out at SCL. Two are published periodically.
..The Boletin de la SCL, currently at number 75. It offers general information about activities, studies being carried out by the members, news, reviews and various articles, as well as papers on the protection of lepidoptera, a section about butterflies in Catalonia and another about the members' collections. It contains a large current bibliography on lepidoptera.
..The Volumenes de Trabajo de la SCL, forms a collection with annual periodicity of which 12 issues, of a total of 99 articles, have been printed. It is the most important journal of the society in which very diverse research papers, in extension and contents, are published, all about lepidopterology that reflect the extense job that is being done in that branch of the entomology.
The publications of the SCL have provided rather important information mainly on the fauna in Catalonia. Thanks to the studies published so far by the SCL, the fauna of known lepidoptera and studied zones have multiplied and extended considerably.
The Society has compiled a large collection of documents about the specialty, that includes information about lepidopterology in Catalonia, practically exhaustive. An important general library on the subject and a large amount of magazines and publications that are received periodically from all over the world, mainly through exchanges, and that exceeds one hundred.
Another noteworthy activity is the celebration of scientific sessions with the spreading and exchange of experiences, as well as workshops. The sessions take place once a month, in the Zoology Museum. The exposition of interesting subjects, the exchange of data, the exhibition of photographs and collected material, and reviews of the papers done by the members cause these sessions to have, in general, large audiences.
The fieldtrips are frequent and are usually organized among groups of members to do specific studies, or as an activity of the Society with a larger participation and in places with remarkable naturalistic interest.
The protection of lepidoptera and their habitats is one of the goals of the SCL and for this reason it collaborates with organizations for the defense of nature. Some of its members participate in protectionist activities. The preservation of the fauna is promoted and the useless depredation of specimens are avoided through strict collection rules. There is also collaboration in the study of the fauna of diverse protected natural areas.
Special thanks to Larry Sweeny for contributing this information on this list. Larry asks that information on other societies be emailed to him at lsweeny@startext.net
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Last Updated: Apr 1, 1997: Pam Mikula butterfly@mgfx.com