Orthoptera Species File
| Orthoptera Species File | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Author: | Maria Marta Cigliano |
| Language: | English |
| Category: | Information hub, Reference works |
| Copyright: | creative commons |
| Keywords: | Species identification, Biology, Information hub, Taxonomy, Database, Digital tools, Natural sciences |
| Species purview | |
| All species (see resource for more details) | |
| Geographic purview | |
| Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe, Oceania | |
The Orthoptera Species File (OSF) stands as one of the most important resources for the study of grasshoppers, crickets, katydids, and their relatives. Built and maintained through the efforts of researchers including Maria Marta Cigliano, Holger Braun, David C. Eades, and Daniel Otte, the project represents decades of careful taxonomic scholarship and curation. Much of this work takes place behind the scenes. Historical literature must be located, interpreted, and reconciled; nomenclatural changes must be tracked across centuries of publications; and thousands of scientific names must be linked to their original descriptions, synonymies, and classifications. While often invisible to end users, these efforts provide the stability and continuity upon which modern biodiversity research depends.
The result is far more than a catalog of names. OSF serves as an authoritative taxonomic backbone that allows researchers, museums, conservation programs, citizen-science initiatives, and biodiversity databases to communicate using a shared and carefully maintained framework. By preserving and organizing the nomenclatural history of Orthoptera, it provides a foundation upon which countless other projects can be built. HopperWiki is one such project. The taxonomic framework maintained by OSF forms the underlying scaffold of the wiki, linking species accounts, photographs, distribution records, literature, and biological observations into a unified and searchable resource. In many ways, the visible taxon pages of HopperWiki rest upon the largely unseen curatorial work of OSF—a testament to the enduring value of careful taxonomy and the scholars who dedicate themselves to its stewardship. Read more here at OSF.
HopperWiki and OSF
HopperWiki relies upon the Orthoptera Species File (OSF) as its authoritative source for orthopteran taxonomy and nomenclature. At regular intervals, taxonomic data from OSF are incorporated into HopperWiki’s underlying database, ensuring that names, classifications, and synonymies remain consistent with the current state of knowledge. The summary below provides information on the OSF version currently referenced by HopperWiki, including the scope and status of the imported taxonomic data.
Resource links
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