Bowling Green , Ky. - Western Kentucky University biologist Jeffrey Marcus announced the official launch of Kentucky Butterfly Net on Friday (Nov. 10) at the 92nd Annual Meeting of the Kentucky Academy of Science in Morehead.

Kentucky Butterfly Net (http://www.kybutterfly.net) is a set of web-based database tools designed to facilitate Lepidoptera (butterfly and moth) research and education. The tools provide known geographic ranges and flight times of each species within the state, according to Dr. Marcus, assistant professor of biology.

The database contains almost 50,000 documented records for 2,450 species of butterflies and moths known from the state and covers the period from 1872-2006. Kentucky Butterfly Net also includes a mechanism for members of the public to add new records to the database.

The project is a collaboration between Dr. Marcus, the Society of Kentucky Lepidopterists, University of Louisville Professor Emeritus Charles V. Covell, and computer programmer Benjamin Marcus of 4th Floor Equipment Company of New York City.

More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu. If you’d like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.

For information, contact Jeffrey Marcus at (270) 745-2043 or (270) 303-2639.

-WKU-
"A leading American university with international reach"

Office of Media Relations
Western Kentucky University
1906 College Heights Blvd., Bowling Green, Ky. 42101-3576
Phone: (270)745-4295 - Fax: (270)7455387 - E-Mail: western@wku.edu