https://csictv.csic.es/videos/watch/f8e32d3c-4542-4878-a13f-94788559548d A team of five institutions with insect collections, led by the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales launched the project INC-STEP to establish a distributed pilot reference collection of pollinators. The project focuses on six groups: the families Hesperiidae and Papilionidae (Lepidoptera), the subfamily Eristalinae (Diptera: Syrphidae), and the genera Bombus, Colletes and Xylocopa (Hymenoptera: Apoidea). Madrid’s Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (MNCN-CSIC) hosts Spain’s largest insect collection and coordinates INC-STEP. The Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona (MCNB) and Faculty of Biological Sciences, Complutense University of Madrid (UCME) have vital roles in training for pollinator monitoring and conservation. The team at the Science Museum, University of Navarra are experts in identifying and filling gaps in biodiversity data. The Natural History Museum, University of Valencia act as a hub to extend our database across additional insect collections in Spain. In the project we tested a workflow for creating a national reference collection, and evaluated the time and staff resources required. We also developed accessible tools and resources to help pollinator identification, all accessible through the Iberfauna portal of the Distributed Reference Collection. INC-STEP was a satellite project of TETTRIs (Transforming European Taxonomy through Training, Research and Innovations), funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation program under Grant Agreement Nr. 101081903. Sun, 11 Oct 2026 07:55:18 GMT https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html PeerTube - https://csictv.csic.es https://csictv.csic.es/lazy-static/avatars/8cb28392-d791-4275-8b2b-4cb7474e04aa.png https://csictv.csic.es/videos/watch/f8e32d3c-4542-4878-a13f-94788559548d All rights reserved, unless otherwise specified in the terms specified at https://csictv.csic.es/about and potential licenses granted by each content's rightholder.