subspecies

[Kondla, Norbert FOR:EX]

One could just as easily observe that numerous butterfly species have been
"overlumped" rather than being "oversplit".  Lumping through application of
the "genitalic species concept" seems to be a fairly common phenomenon.
There is in many cases little or no evidence to support some long standing
taxonomic assignments so any opinion is as good as any other opinion.  If we
ignore subspecies and assume that present species level taxonomy is correct
then we will learn nothing new.  I understand some people even think that
all the butterfly species in North America are known.  If you believe that,
I would like to sell you the Brooklyn Bridge :-)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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