Welcome to the new version of the Lepidoptera Mundi website

What you see now on the website is the result of over one and a half years of hard work by the site's author. The main factors that motivated me to start working on the new website were to increase its security and performance. With each update, new data — species, photos, and observations — was added to the website. The constantly growing database and the even faster-growing number of users caused the server to run slower, which in a way forced these major changes.
The new website has been written practically from scratch and uses a newly designed, high-performance database. All components and frameworks used on the website have been updated to their latest versions. I also designed a new, more intuitive page layout, changed the theme from dark to light, and added a clear footer.
If you like the new website, use it often, and would like to support the author, I encourage you to make a small donation. Your contributions will help with maintaining the domain, the server, and the continued development of this large project. A link to support the author via PayPal can be found in the site's footer.

The number of changes to the site is so extensive that it's impossible to describe everything on the main page. Below you will find a condensed list of the most important changes:

	Security
	Due to the increasing number of account takeover and data theft attempts, I have made changes to the login module and authentication methods. All passwords saved in the previous version of the website have been removed, so it is no longer possible to log in with the „old” password. To log in to the new website, use the Reset Password option and set a new, strong password. The password change and setup form is equipped with a password strength checker. In the event of multiple unsuccessful login attempts, your account will be automatically locked. More information about security can be found here.
	Continents and Countries
	Continents (areas) were already introduced in the previous version of the site, but you could only use one at a time. The new version of the site allows you to work on multiple continents simultaneously — for example, Europe and Asia or both Americas. Before you start Browse, make sure you have selected the correct continents in the website settings. It's also possible to work with multiple countries at the same time, whether they are on the same continent or different ones. I have also rebuilt the country selection page and the way parameters are entered in the advanced search engine.
	Photos and Galleries
	I've removed the photo resolution limitations and added support for modern graphic file formats. Photos in the encyclopedia section no longer have to be 320x240, and those in galleries don't need to be 800x600. Due to the very large number of existing photos, I do not plan to convert older files to higher resolutions and new formats. Most newly added photos will be larger than before. The photo viewer in the galleries has been equipped with a player that allows for the automatic display of all photos, as well as a filter for development stages.
	Search engines
	I've improved the appearance and functionality of the quick search in the top menu. The advanced search engine has also been modernized. While its visual design is very similar to the „old” site's version, it now allows you to enter any number of parameters (countries, regions, families, genera, host plants), not just one, as was the case before. I have also added the option to filter search results and export them to the clipboard and several of the most popular file formats.
	Records
	The Recording module has been expanded with new features, filters, maps, and a data export option. There's no longer a need to report new locations that aren't in the database. Records can be entered directly using the map or — as before — by selecting a location from a list. The record editing window has been updated to include a phenogram and the ability to add special characters (♂ ♀ °C) to the note. Advanced observation filtering has been made available to users with observer status, and a new, interactive species observation view page is available to all users.
	Statistics
	I've created a new view that presents website statistics in the form of several charts. You'll find information on the number of users, species, and photos (in the encyclopedia and galleries), broken down by continent. The following charts compare the number of species in each country and show which families contain the most species.
	Literature and Links
	I've added several hundred new books about butterflies and moths. More will be added in future updates. The built-in search engine allows you to filter literature by continent, language, and year of publication, as well as preview covers. I've also added the option to filter by continent, country, and page language to the list of links to websites about butterflies.
	Responsive Design
	Nearly half of the site's users use mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones. The new version of the site has been designed to display correctly on any device, regardless of screen size or orientation. On smaller devices, the site automatically hides the least important elements while ensuring readability. To facilitate touchscreen operation, some controls have been adapted for use with a touchscreen instead of a mouse.
	Internationalization and localization
	Due to major changes to the website, it was not possible to directly use localization files from the previous version of the site. Currently, only two language versions are available: Polish and English. Additional languages will be added gradually in the coming months.

Testing and bug reporting

Due to the extensive scope of changes, months of thorough testing were required after the new website was completed. Thanks to testers' feedback, I was able to identify and fix many bugs, but it's still possible that some features may not function properly in certain situations or with specific parameters.
Please report any issues and/or suggestions for further improvements via the contact form or email.