The Diabrotica Genetics Consortium was organized in 2003 as a way to enhance and encourage communication among scientists in North America and Europe conducting research on all aspects of rootworm genetics (Sappington et al. 2006). The initial impetus for organizing ourselves was the mutual discovery that five laboratories in the US and France were simultaneously engaged in, or about to engage in, development of microsatellite DNA markers for population genetics studies of the western corn rootworm, Diabrotica virgifera virgifera. Development of microsatellites is a costly and rather time-consuming endeavor. We agreed that we could all benefit from more efficient use of our resources by coordinating our efforts and freely sharing information and markers, thus reducing needless duplication of effort and unproductive competition. We further agreed to open membership in the Consortium to anyone working in the field of genetics of any Diabrotica species, as well as to anyone whose research was impacted by those fields. The response and interest were overwhelming. The Consortium has since grown to include more than 40 laboratories in seven countries in North America, Europe, and Australia. It also has expanded far beyond the relatively narrow field of population genetics.