Nominate a Species for Sequencing

With the founding of the i5k initiative in 2011, the community was asked to nominate species for sequencing. This resulted in a total of 787 nominations between 2011 and 2012. Of these, 28 species were selected for the i5k Pilot Project. Anticipating the need for MANY MORE nominations as opportunities arise for sequencing and analysis on a large scale, i5k encourages everyone to continue to participate in this process by nominating arthropod species of interest. i5k is especially interested in having nominations of groups of species potentially useful for addressing fundamental evolutionary questions, or solving critical problems in agriculture and animal health.

To nominate a species, please fill out our nomination form here.

Nominations may include new species, updates to the original nominations, or species for which sequencing has been initiated, but may not yet be sufficiently contiguous or complete. To update an original nomination, please submit a new nomination with current information.

For reference we have compiled a table of all sequenced and publicly archived arthropod genomes as well as the original community nominations.


Species prioritization criteria are under consideration, but will be based on:

  • Relevance and impact including the number and significance of basic and applied areas of investigation that can be addressed with knowledge of a species’ genome
  • Scientific and societal impact in areas such as agriculture, human health, ecosystems, and conservation
  • Feasibility for accomplishing a project with current technology considering such factors as availability of inbred strains and associated genetic and genomic resources
  • Strong project leadership and broad community support


If you have access to specimens, we highly encourage you to deposit material into a Global Genome Biodiversity Network (GGBN) Biodiversity Repository for genome-quality sample preservation.