The Lepidopterists' Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to the study of

butterflies Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

and

moth Moths are a group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not Butterfly, butterflies. They were previously classified as suborder Heterocera, but the group is Paraphyly, paraphyletic with respect to butterflies (s ...

s (

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) or lepidopterans is an order (biology), order of winged insects which includes butterflies and moths. About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera have been described, representing 10% of the total described species of living organ ...

). Founded in 1947 and based in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, it has an international focus and membership.

Publications

The society's main organ is the ''Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society'', which has been published continuously since 1947. Back issues up and including 2009 are freely available and hosted by the

Peabody Museum of Natural History The Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University (also known as the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History or the Yale Peabody Museum) is one of the oldest, largest, and most prolific university natural history museums in the world. It ...

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

. Subsequent issues are available via

BioOne BioOne is a nonprofit publisher of scientific research. BioOne was established in 1999 in Washington, DC, as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization by five scholarly collaborators: the American Institute of Biological Sciences, the Scholarly ...

. Since 1959, the society has also published a quarterly newsletter, the ''News of the Lepidopterists' Society''. All back issues of this, too, are available from the Peabody Museum. A series of occasional papers is called ''Memoirs'': * Memoir 1. ''A Synonymic List of the Nearctic Rhophalocera''. C. F. dos Passos, 1964 * Memoir 2. ''A Catalogue/Checklist of the Butterflies of America North of Mexico''. L. D. Miller and F. M. Brown, 1981. * Memoir 3. ''Supplement to: A Catalogue/Checklist of the Butterflies of America North of Mexico''. C. D. Ferris (ed.), 1989 * Memoir 4. ''Foodplants of World Saturniidae''. S. E. Stone, 1991 * Memoir 5. ''Basic Techniques for Observing and Studying Moths and Butterflies''. W. D. Winter, Jr., 2000 They are also available via the Peabody. Other publications include: * ''The Lepidopterists' Society Commemorative Volume 1945-1973''. R. Kendall (compiler), 1977

Presidents

The society's first president, in 1951, was

James Halliday McDunnough James Halliday McDunnough (10 May 1877 – 23 February 1962) was a Canadians, Canadian Linguistics, linguist, musician, and Entomology, entomologist best known for his work with North American Lepidoptera, but who also made important contributio ...

of the Nova Scotia Museum of Science. The next year, he was succeeded by the German-British entomologist Karl Jordan, of the

Zoological Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more. ...

, Tring, England. The president for 2018-2019 is .

Awards

The society awards a

Karl Jordan Medal Karl may refer to: People * Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne * Karl of Austria, last Austrian Emperor * Karl (footballer) (born 1993), Karl Cachoe ...

, initiated in 1972, in honor of Jordan. The first recipient was

Henri Stempffer Henri Stempffer (23 January 1894 – 1 November 1978) was a French entomologist who specialized in the study of Lycaenidae butterflies. Biography Stempffer was born on 23 January 1894 in Paris, at 19 rue de Charonne.Luquet (G. Chr.), 2004. Notes ...

. A full list of recipients is: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The society also grants honorary life memberships, such as that conferred on Lincoln Brower.

References

External links

* {{authority control Learned societies of the United States 1947 establishments in the United States Non-profit organizations based in the United States Lepidopterology Zoological societies Entomological societies