1. How to create a species list from the
Virtual Museum projects
Megan Loftie-Eaton – Animal Demography Unit – University of Cape Town

2. In this slideshow we
provide the recipe to
creating a species list of
butterflies, directly off
the current and live
data in the LepiMAP
database --- this process
is the same for ALL
other projects in the
Virtual Museum.
You don’t need to login
to access the lists. They
are available to you,
free of charge,
anywhere in the world!

3. The hardest part of getting a species list is knowing the “code” for the
area you want a list for. These counter-intuitive codes were invented by
the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform of the South
African Government. We are not responsible for their complexity, which
is explained on their website: http://www.ngi.gov.za/index.php/what-we-
do/maps-and-geospatial-information/41-sa-mapsheet-referencing −
if you don’t know the system stick to maps for one degree grid cells for
starters.
Each degree cell is known by a four-digit number, two digits for latitude
followed by two digits for longitude, focusing on the northwest corner
of the cell. So degree cell 2926 has 29S and 26E at its northwest corner.
It runs from 29S to 30S and 26E to 27E.
Bloemfontein is in this degree cell! This is the example we will use…

4. So to get a list of the butterflies of the Bloemfontein area:
1. Go to http://vmus.adu.org.za/
2. Click on the LepiMAP logo

5. 3. Down the left hand side menu, click on “Species lists”

6. 4. In the box, enter the code for the cell which you want a species
list for. Because you want the degree cell containing Bloemfontein,
type in 2926.

7. AND also note that you can get a species list for a specific province
or country AS WELL AS a conservation area/national park within
South Africa

8. 5. Click on “Get species list”

9. 6. Our server searches the LepiMAP database to find the records for
this degree cell (2926), and then sends the list of species. This takes a
few seconds before it appears on your screen. In this case, at the top it
says “108 species found for locus 2926”

10. The list provides both the scientific name and the English
common. It also gives the threat status. You can copy and paste
the list into an Excel spreadsheet
The same drill applies to all the species in all the taxa for which there
are Virtual Museums. The only restriction on how you use the
information is contained in the standard Creative Commons
Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License at

11. THANK YOU!!