Stable English Names

[Kondla, Norbert FOR:EX]

I agree that it would be desirable to have stable English names for
butterflies in Canada and USA.  This will evolve over time as creative minds
come up with names that are widely acceptable.  Those names that are not a
good fit in the minds of butterfly people will be avoided no matter how many
times they appear in books and lists. A couple of examples that give me gas
pains are the "Labrador Sulphur". Since this species range is about 98 %
outside of Labrador the name does not seem very logical.  I suppose I could
make the same observation about "Rocky Mountain Parnassian" - think the last
time I looked at a map better than 2/3 of its range is actually outside of
the Rocks. Names that are either descriptive of a species range or
appearance are most likely to be embraced by users- and also most likely to
communicate useful information.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Norbert Kondla  P.Biol., RPBio.
Forest Ecosystem Specialist, Ministry of Environment
845 Columbia Avenue, Castlegar, British Columbia V1N 1H3
Phone 250-365-8610
Mailto:Norbert.Kondla at gems3.gov.bc.ca
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca