Assembling a Virtual Weevils of North America Checklist with Symbiota - Preliminary Insights

We report on preliminary insights gained from the virtual Weevils of North America (WoNA) project. WoNA represents a novel, collaborative solution to the challenge of assembling monographs for taxonomically complex groups such as the weevils (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea) by leveraging the large-scale, specimen-level digitization efforts of thematic collection networks. The project has been developed on-line since 2012 within the framework of the Southwest Collections of Arthropods Network (SCAN). Current WoNA holdings include voucher-based data on more than 300 genera and 1000 species as well as high-resolution images for more than 400 species. Efforts to enrich these data with additional images, taxon profile pages, and interactive identification keys are underway. SCAN and WoNA are sustained by the Symbiota software platform which promotes diversified forms of engagement with research colllections, taxonomic experts, and the general user community. In each case the sources and actions related to data holdings are properly accredited. Future Symbiota modules will facilitate an increasingly monograph-like representation and publishable output under this approach. Integration of Filtered Push technology allows external users to submit annotations amounting to an open, distributed, and dynamic system of peer review that can increase support and trust in such virtual taxonomic knowledge environments.