Nouvelles
(Note: the English version follows)
Guillaume Dury, Étudiant à la maîtrise, Université McGill
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Le 7 avril 2012, l’article du jour sur Wikipédia était Chrysiridia rhipheus.
C’était un grand jour pour moi : j’ai écrit la majorité de l’article. Ce n’est pas pour autant mon article; dire cela irait à l’encontre de l’étiquette de Wikipédia. J’y ai tout de même passé des heures de recherche et j’ai écrit la majorité de l’article.
Tout comme des millions de personnes, j’utilise Wikipédia pour étancher ma soif de connaissances rapides. À juste titre, « «wiki» » est Hawaïen pour rapide. Seulement, il n’y avait pas de wiki-connaissances sur ce papillon de nuit qu’est l’Uranie riphée (Chrysiridia rhipheus).
J’étais toujours curieux; cette soif particulière ne resterait pas inassouvie. Puisque j’allais faire une recherche de littérature, aussi bien écrire un résumé au bénéfice des autres. Voilà comment je suis devenu un éditeur sur Wikipédia.
J’ai créé l’article le 5 août 2006, un peu avant de commencer mon baccalauréat en biologie. En tant que biologiste de formation, j’avais besoin de pratiquer les tâches concernées dans l’écriture de l’article. Le plus important fut de trouver l’information. J’ai pu trouver beaucoup d’information en ligne : dans les articles scientifiques et dans des livres numérisés par Google Books ou Internet Archive. J’ai aussi appris que, parfois, des références ne sont tout simplement pas disponibles en ligne. C’est alors que j’ai utilisé les prêts entre bibliothèques pour la première fois. Peu a peu, une référence à la fois, j’ai rempli les différentes sections de l’article.
La partie sur la taxonomie et la description de l’espèce fut beaucoup plus intéressante à écrire que je l’aurais cru. L’Uranie rhiphée, ou le « «papillon coucher de soleil malgache» » (de l’anglais « Madagascan sunset moth ») a toute une histoire derrière ses noms. Il est décrit pour la première fois, en 1773, sous le nom de Papilio rhipheus. C’est-à-dire qu’il avait été placé parmi les papillons de jour et non de nuit. Capitaine May de Hammersmith avait donné le spécimen à l’entomologiste britannique Dru Drury. Ce spécimen avait été « «réparé» » avec une tête de papillon de jour et ses antennes en massue. (NB : ne pas coller la mauvaise tête sur votre spécimen cassé!) En 1831, René Primevère Lesson l’avait décrit sous le nom Urania ripheus var. madagascarensis. Ce papillon a toujours plusieurs autres synonymes.
En utilisant les guides sur Wikipédia, en demandant d’autres éditeurs et en m’inspirant de d’autres articles, j’ai rassemblé et résumé de plus en plus d’information. J’ai fait passer l’article par le processus interne d’évaluation par les pairs dans Wikipédia en janvier 2007. Sur Wikipédia, les pairs sont d’autres éditeurs et pas nécessairement des entomologistes. Cela a aidé un peu, surtout pour le format article, mais je devais surtout trouver d’autres sources d’information à inclure.
Puis, j’ai contacté l’un des experts mondiaux sur Chrysiridia rhipheus, le Dr David C. Lees du Musée d’Histoire naturelle de Londres. J’ai été agréablement surpris; il était déjà éditeur sur Wikipédia. Il m’a dirigé vers des références importantes que j’avais manquées et a ajouté des informations lui-même. J’étais ravi.

Carte de cigarettes dépeignant une fée « Chrysiridia madagascariensis » en 1928, compagnie John Player & Sons.
En mars 2008, je jugeais que mon article avait atteint le niveau de « «bon article» ». Pour être reconnu comme tel, un article doit répondre à certains critères et passer avec succès le processus de mise en candidature de bon article. Avec l’examen et des suggestions de l’utilisateur Casliber, c’est ce qui s’est passé le 22 mars 2008 : j’avais écrit un « «bon» » article sur Wikipédia.
J’ai continué; j’ai fait des modifications, j’ai ajouté des références, des images, y compris une carte de cigarettes datant de 1928, et j’ai ajouté ce qui est probablement la seule photo de la chenille de cette espèce sur Internet. J’ai eu l’aide de l’un des principaux éditeurs des articles sur l’optique et la polarisation des articles afin de clarifier pour moi la polarisation de la lumière. Les écailles sur les ailes du papillon produisent les couleurs à travers deux phénomènes optiques, l’un dépend de polarisation. Le papillon ne dispose de pigment que dans les régions noires de ses ailes.
Ensuite, le 18 juin 2008, j’ai fait la mise en candidature de l’article pour qu’il soit reconnu comme article de qualité. Les articles de qualité sont considérés comme représentant le meilleur de ce que Wikipédia a à offrir, comme déterminé par les éditeurs de Wikipédia. Lors de ce processus, de nombreux éditeurs font des suggestions et demandent des changements à l’article. J’ai fait la plupart de ces changements et fait de mon mieux pour répondre aux questions. Le 4 juillet 2008, Chrysiridia rhipheus a été promu au statut d’article de qualité. Featured article en anglais; ce statut exceptionnel est signifié par une petite étoile dans le coin supérieur à droit! :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysiridia_rhipheus
En moyenne, l’article Chrysiridia rhipheus est visité à peu près une centaine de fois par jour. Le 7 avril 2012, il a été visité plus de 20 000 fois. Au cours des 90 derniers jours, cela fait un total de 37614 fois. C’est de la bonne diffusion!
Je répondrai avec plaisir aux questions de ceux qui s’intéressent à l’écriture de « leur propre » article Wikipédia. Tout commence par le bouton [modifier]…
Pour les professeurs : « «dans le cours ENTO 431 entomologie médico-légale, à l’université du Texas A & M, les étudiants ont la tâche d’écrire plusieurs articles sur Wikipédia concernant les espèces de mouches d’importance médico-légale.» » Le travail des étudiants sert alors leur cours et sert le but de Wikipédia de créer un résumé de toutes les connaissances humaines dans une encyclopédie libre et en ligne. (Pour plus d’informations, voir la page du cours sur Wikipédia (en anglais))
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By Guillaume Dury, M.Sc. student, McGill University
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Engraving captioned Urania riphaeus from Charles D. d’Orbigny’s Dictionnaire universel d’histoire naturelle (1849)
On April 7th 2012, on Wikipedia, Today’s Featured Article was Chrysiridia rhipheus.
It was an exciting day for me: I wrote most of the article. It isn’t my article; it would be against Wikipedia etiquette to say so. Still, I spent hours researching and wrote most of it.
Just like millions of people, I use Wikipedia to quench my thirst for quick knowledge. Appropriately, “wiki” is Hawaiian for quick. Only there was no wiki-knowledge on the Madagascan sunset moth (Chrysiridia rhipheus).
I was still curious; this particular thirst wouldn’t be left unquenched. Since I would search the literature, I thought I might as well write a summary for the benefit of others. That is how I became an editor on Wikipedia.
I created the article on August 5th 2006, a little before starting my bachelor’s in biology. As a biologist in training, I needed to practice the tasks involved, most importantly: finding information. I was able to find a lot online: in scientific articles and scanned books in Google Books or Internet Archives. I also learned that sometimes, references are simply not available online. That is when I used interlibrary loans for the first time. Little by little, one reference at a time, I filled the different sections of the article.
The section on taxonomy and naming of the species was a lot more interesting to write than I initially thought it would be. The Madagascan sunset moth has quite a story behind its names. It was first described, in 1773, as Papilio rhipheus. That is to say, it was described as a butterfly and not a moth. Captain May of the Hammersmith gave the specimen to the British entomologist Dru Drury, only that specimen had been “repaired” with a butterfly head that had clubbed antennae. (N.B.: don’t glue the wrong head on your broken insect specimen!) In 1831, René Primevère Lesson described Urania ripheus var. madagascarensis. The moth also has a number of other junior synonyms.
Using guides on Wikipedia, asking other editors and inspiring myself with other articles, I gathered and summarized more and more information. I went through Wikipedia’s internal process of peer review in January 2007. On Wikipedia, peers are other Wikipedia editors, not necessarily entomologists. This helped somewhat, especially for article format, but I really had to look for more sources and information to include.
I contacted one of the world experts on the Madagascan sunset moth, Dr. David C. Lees of the London Natural History Museum. I was pleasantly surprised he was already an editor on Wikipedia. He pointed me towards important references I had missed and added information himself. I was delighted.

A cigarette card featuring a « Chrysiridia madagascariensis » fairy in 1928 from John Player & Sons.
In March 2008, I felt my article was close to the level of “Good article”. To be recognized as such, an article needs to meet the good article criteria and to successfully pass the good article nomination process. With the review and suggestions of user Casliber, this happened on March 22nd 2008: I had written a “Good” article on Wikipedia.
I kept going, did more editing, added references and pictures, including a cigarette card from 1928, and what is probably the only photo of this species’ caterpillar on the Internet. I got help from one of the main editor of the articles Optics and Polarization to clarify light polarization for me. The scales on the moth’s wings use two optical phenomena to produce the colours, one of which is polarization dependent. The moth only has pigment in the black regions of its wings.
On June 18th 2008, I proposed the article for evaluation to be recognized as Featured. Featured articles are considered to be the best Wikipedia has to offer, as determined by Wikipedia’s editors. In this review process, various editors make suggestions and ask for changes to the article. I made most of those changes and answered questions to the best of my knowledge. On July 4th 2008, Chrysiridia rhipheus was promoted to Featured Article, this exceptional status is signified by a little star in the top-right corner!:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysiridia_rhipheus
On an average day, the article Chrysiridia rhipheus is viewed roughly a hundred times. On April 7th 2012, it was viewed over 20 000 times. In the last 90 days, that makes a total of 37 614 times. Good exposure!
I’ll happily answer the questions of anyone interested in writing « their own » Wikipedia article. It all start with the [edit] button…
Lastly, a note for the professors: « As a part of the ENTO 431, forensic entomology course at Texas A&M University students are assigned the task of writing several articles at Wikipedia pertaining to forensically important fly species. » The students’ work serves their course, and Wikipedia’s goal to create a summary of all human knowledge in an online encyclopedia. (For more information see the course’s Wikipedia page)
By Matt Yunik, Public Education, Entomological Society of Manitoba
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After a slow start, I can finally say that spring is in the air here in Manitoba. Summer students have started their work in the various labs and grad students are chomping at the bit to get back into the field. After the devastating flooding followed by unquenchable drought of last year, this field season shows promise for being more successful.

Memorial in the J.B. Wallis and R.E. Roughley Museum of Entomology, with a case of Dr. Roughley’s Dytiscid beetles.
The entomology museum here at the University of Manitoba has recently undergone some transformations. A modest but fitting re-dedication ceremony was held on March 27th for our newly named J.B. Wallis/R.E. Roughley Museum of Entomology. Dr. Roughley had always been a big promoter of the museum, earning it the status of being the largest insect museum in Western Canada and the first bar-coded database system for entomological collections in Canada.
The department’s Graduate Student Association, with the assistance of the current curator Dr. Barb Sharanowski, has secured funding and are assembling a stereoscope with digital imaging system that will provide stellar images that will be shown on later blog posts.
Finally, there are two points of interest to report from the ESM front. On April 18th the ESM held our new member social. Dinner and drinks were served with admission covered for all new members of the society. I personally enjoyed meeting other newcomers while spending time with some of the more senior members.
Also, the ESM youth encouragement and public awareness team is getting ramped up for the multitude of presentations through the summer months. We typically conduct over 60 presentations a year, the majority of which are for summer youth camps. It will be exciting to see how the influx of new faces in the society will add to these presentations.
On June 15, 2012, Rebecca Hallett, Chair of the Science Policy & Education Committee, sent a letter on behalf of the ESC to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Hon. Keith Ashfield (Minister of Fisheries and Oceans) and Hon. Peter Kent (Minister of the Environment) asking the Government to reverse their decision to close the Experimental Lakes Area. You can read the full text of the letter attached here. The letter was cc’d to Save ELA, and MPs Elizabeth May (Green Party Leader), Tom Mulcair (New Democratic Party Leader) and Hon. Bob Rae (Liberal Party Leader). The ESC was also added as a signator to an ad in support of saving the ELA printed in the Globe & Mail and the Winnipeg Free Press on Saturday June 16.
You can read the ESC’s letter to the government here.
Anyone interested in learning more about the ELA and/or adding your individual support to this initiative, should visit the Save ELA site.
Responses:
On Monday June 19, a reply was received from Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party of Canada, expressing her dismay at the closure of the ELA and her intention to table petitions in the House of Commons supporting the continued operation of the ELA in hopes of reversing the government’s decision.
You can read Elizabeth May’s response here.
On Friday June 29, a reply was received from Hon. Keith Ashfield (Minister of Fisheries and Oceans).
By Rose De Clerck-Floate, Chair of the ESC Achievement Awards Committee
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On June 4 I was on a high despite it being the end of a long work day, and a Monday no less. This is because I had the pleasure of informing two distinguished Canadian entomologists that they will be this year’s recipients of our Society’s most prestigious awards; the Gold Medal and the C. Gordon Hewitt Award.
Last December when embarking on my duties as Chair of the Achievement Awards Committee, I had no idea of how the whole process of serving on the Committee which receives and reviews the nominations and then selects the nominees for final ESC Board vote, would profoundly expand my understanding and appreciation of both our entomologist colleagues and our Society. First, I thoroughly enjoyed working with the Committee, which was made up of well-respected and accomplished entomologists in their own right. Secondly, I was taken aback by the quality of candidates, which made our job of choosing only one nominee per award challenging. Finally, I was impressed with the nomination packages themselves, and by how eagerly and selflessly our members rose to the large task of pulling together these rather detailed and long documents during their busy lives. It spoke volumes of the dedication, volunteerism, and team-work of our members, and ultimately, how vibrant we are as a Society.
When I placed the calls, I was both excited and nervous; the latter because there is a fair dash of humility that comes with realizing that these people, even though they are acquaintances and I have interacted with them in the past, all of a sudden stand out as amazing both academically and in their capacity for giving back to the communities they are part of. I honestly had no idea how accomplished they were until reading the nomination packages. Wow! Quickly though, their own humility shone through the phone call; both were thrilled and honored by the news, with one blurting with heartfelt candor, “I have always so loved entomology, and to be recognized by my fellow entomologists means a great deal to me”.
So what our current Prez, Michel Cusson, told me in December is very true. Having the opportunity to tell someone that they are being honored by peers for their contributions to science and society is really a very special moment. And for someone (i.e., me) who has never taken the time to nominate another for one of the awards our Society has to offer annually, this experience also has transformed me. I am now looking more closely at my colleagues; appreciating who they are and what they are contributing to Canadian entomology, and seeing future nominations everywhere! My hope is that others will be inspired down the same fulfilling path of recognizing and giving on behalf of our Society.
After all this, I guess I should let you know who the recipients of this year’s honors are: congratulations to Dr. Felix Sperling for being the awardee of the Gold Medal, and Dr. Brent Sinclair, awardee of the C. Gordon Hewitt Award…….more details to come.
Un évènement à ne pas manquer!
Les 1 et 2 novembre 2012, la SEQ tiendra à Boucherville sa 139e réunion annuelle sous le thème « Entomologie et agriculture biologique : de l’écologie à la pratique ». Lors du symposium, plusieurs conférenciers de prestiges viendront présenter les dernières avancées en agriculture biologique, les applications de leurs recherches ainsi que les défis à relever dans le futur en agriculture biologique. En plus du symposium, plus d’une trentaine de présentations étudiantes et professionnelles seront données sur différents aspects de l’entomologie agricole et forestière lors de la première journée du congrès. Pour plus de détails sur le programme et pour vous inscrire, consultez notre site Web à www.seq.qc.ca
An event not to miss!
On November 1st and 2nd 2012, the SEQ will hold its 139e annual meeting in Boucherville under the theme of “Entomology and organic agriculture: from ecology to practice”. During the symposium, prestigious speakers will present the latest advances in organic agriculture, practical applications of their research and challenges in the future of organic agriculture. In addition to the symposium, more than thirty talks from students and professionals on agricultural and forest entomology research will be given during the first day of the meeting. For more details about the program and to register visit our website at www.seq.qc.ca
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Sophie Rochefort
Présidente, Societé d’Entomologie du Québec
CONTACTER LA SOCIÉTÉ
Assistant administratif : info@esc-sec.ca
SEC Président : ESCPresident@esc-sec.ca
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