At a time when many are defenders of nature and the environment, we talk frequently about the preservation of Biodiversity, but what is this biodiversity ? But what do we know of this biodiversity and of the many existing species? And how do we protect them if we have so little information about them ?

Based on some estimations, French Guiana would have around 8 to 9000 species of Lepidoptera. 1500 species of  Rhopalocera are actually described, which makes about 7500 species of Heterocerae !

Guiana is an extraordinary territory of an enormous biodiversity ! For example, each hectare of forest may have a mosaic of over 150 species of different trees, and equally of animal species.  With respect to insects and particularly with reference to the entomological fauna of Heterocerae our knowledge is very uneven, see systematic table.

...in order to improve our knowledge on the Moths from the French Guiana...

Certain families of moths are well known, there are specialists in their taxonomy that share their knowledge with the public. Examples of these families are the Sphingidae, Saturniidae or Arctiidae. These moths, more attractive for the size and colors are equally more collected by the amateurs.

Other families well known to specialists, such as the Notodontidae, Noctuidae, Geometridae are forgotten and seldom of interest to the amateurs, despite the expertise of specialists and of the impressive number of species that belong to these families. But despite the existing knowledge there are still surprises, for example a species of  Notodonte, Marthula grisescens, sighted for the first time in Guiana !

Finally, for the too numerous families of moths that are unluckily poorly known such as Lasiocampidae, Mimallonidae, Apatelodidae, Lymantriidae, etc..., we are lacking specialists needed for the revision of the gena and species. Moreover, there are still many species to discover and describe for which their biology is totally unknown. For these less well known species the bibliography is usually very old, incomplete and out of date, the only recourse is to consult the collections of national museums - Paris, London, Munich... - or to consult the dozens of publications dispersed and hard to find. This is out of reach for most amateurs. 

At a time when internet allows a wide and rapid distribution of information (see "liens" for related websites), I thought useful to create a website destine to all and with the main objective of making known a small part of the entomological wealth of  Guiana.
 

The idea to create a website came after consulting the excellent site of Arctiidae de Guyane made by the members of the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle de Paris (MNHN) and the Institut National de Recherche Agronomique (INRA-Versailles).

Here, the main challenge has been to bring the greatest number of images of species of all the families of Heterocerae of Guiana, with information that allow the ease of recognition, starting with the most well known and spectacular among them. I felt that it was more important to address the diversity of families, gena and species, rather than developing one family in its totality.

This is a work that has been possible only thanks to the participation of numerous colleagues entomologists, amateurs and professionals, who have responded favorably to this idea by opening the door to their collections to photograph their most interesting specimens or by sharing their expertise at the level of the determination of the specimens. 

I thank in particular Professor Joël Minet and his collaborators who shared their knowledge with me and allowed me access to the collection of the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle de Paris.