Entering data for a taxon is fun – for as much as one has the original book or article in front. Many were the times however, we couldn’t proceed by lack of the correct reference, book, article or magazine.

Adding literature references can be simple and straight-forward yet can also be very time consuming when published in different editions or parts or when intensive research is needed before it can be added to the database.

Since a few years we have someone in our ranks who doesn’t enter taxa but solely focusses on adding literature references and – when possible – the URLs and/or PDFs so we can all use the source for our specific scopes: please meet Luigi Romani from Lucca (Italy).

Born from a lifelong curiosity about the world around him and the joy of exploring its extraordinary beauty, Luigi has always nurtured a deep passion for nature, where molluscs have always held a special place for him. During his studies on Mollusca, he came to appreciate the scientific literature not only as the foundation of research, but also as a gateway to the observations, discoveries, and insights of generations of naturalists.

Through his work on the MolluscaBase bibliography, Luigi seeks to make this invaluable scientific and historical resource more accessible to editors and users alike.

Whilst we all add the odd reference or PDF every now and then, Luigi is our key bibliographer, and we would like to thank him this way for his contributions to our much-needed sources database. 

On behalf of the Editor Community,
Philippe Bouchet, Serge Gofas, Chris Vos and Thomas A. Neubauer

Photograph: Luigi Romani (after his Facebook profile, here used with his consent)