The largest field expedition in the field of lepidopterology, which brought together 57 experts from 17 European countries, took place between June 15 and 19, 2026, near the village of Vlahi, above the Kresna Gorge in the Pirin Mountains. The researchers collected data on more than 700 species of day and night butterflies of which at least 300 species will be sequenced for the first time, and their genomes will be used as references.
As part of the “Psyche” project, the expedition aimed to assist in collecting data on some of the species for which genetic data is currently lacking. To date, over 11,000 butterfly species have been identified in Europe but the genomes of only about 10% of them are known. So far, a total of 3,500 species have been collected as part of the project; of these, 1,350 have been sequenced, while the rest are being processed and are scheduled to be sequenced.
The organizers from the National Museum of Natural History – BAS: Prof. Stoyan Beshkov, Sen. Asst. Prof. Dr. Stefaniya Kamenova and Asst. Prof. Ana Nahirnić-Beshkova, together with PhD student Zdravko Kolev and the museum’s associate researchers, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Boyan Zlatkov and Dimitar Kaynarov, actively participated in the fieldwork, identification, and processing of the specimens.
The expedition fostered valuable contacts among European specialists from various scientific fields who exchanged information on the progress of research in the fields of biosystematics and evolutionary biology.
The species collected in Bulgaria and their taxonomic identification represent a significant contribution to the study of genomic diversity among butterflies in Europe as well as an important step toward establishing a regional hub for genomic analyses in the Balkans.
A series of articles is forthcoming in the museum’s scientific journal, Historia naturalis bulgarica, which will analyze and summarize the results of the expedition.
