Subspecies and protection

[Jean-Michel MAES]

Dear Chris Durden,

Thanks for the information about monarch names.
What name must I use in my catalogue of Nicaraguan butterflies ?

Sincerely,

Jean-Michel MAES
MUSEO ENTOMOLOGICO
AP 527
LEON
NICARAGUA
tel 505-3116586
jmmaes at ibw.com.ni
----- Original Message -----
From: Chris J. Durden <drdn at mail.utexas.edu>
To: <leps-l at lists.yale.edu>
Sent: Saturday, October 14, 2000 11:36 PM
Subject: RE: Subspecies and protection


> Jean-Michel,
>   Alas no joke.
>   Opinion 282 (ICZN) designated a Neotype for *Papilio plexippus* Linne,
> 1758, in 1954. This Neotype came from Kendall, New York State - clearly
the
> migratory monarch. Note that one original specimen of Linne is likely to
> have come from the Swedish colony in eastern Pennsylvania, even though the
> other specimen came from Canton, China and was renamed *P. genutia* later.
>
>   To quote F. M. Brown (1972, Jamaica and it's Butterflies) -
>
> "Disquieting as it may be, there is a slight possibility that migratory
*D.
> p. plexippus* is a sibling species of what we now consider the sedentary
> subspecies of *D. plexippus*. There are, for example, minor but constant
> differences in the male genitalia, and there is the marked difference in
> the shape and proportions of the forewing and the shape of the
> light-colored subapical spots on that wing."
>
>   Funny no-one has followed this suggestion yet!
>
> Ackery & Vane-Wright (1984, Milkweed Butterflies) can find no autapomorphy
> to define *D. plexippus* in relation to the trans-amazonian *D. erippus*.
> They do recognize them on the basis of paler forewing hindmargin and
> possibly shorter tongue of the latter. They recognize no subspecies.
>
>   You are probably in a better position to characterize the tropical
> montane monarchs, at least in Nicaragua. I have easy access to very few
> specimens of tropical non-migrant monarchs from Mexico and Costa Rica.
> Someone needs to study larvae as well and take samples for DNA comparison.
> .........Chris Durden
>
> At 07:19  14/10/00 -0600, you wrote:
> >Dear Chris Durden,
> >
> >That's a bad joke... I have no name for MY monarchs !
> >What's the subspecies of Nicaragua ?
> >I was thinking it was megalippe...
> >If you are shure of that it is new, why don't you descibe it ?
> >
> >Can you put your distributions on a map. You have 3 ssp. in Mexico.
> - - - - -
> Yes two overlap seasonally in Tamaulipas. The third seems to be uncommon
in
> isolated mountain ranges.
> - - -(Chris)
> >
> >Thanks,
> >
> >Jean-Michel MAES
> >MUSEO ENTOMOLOGICO
> >AP 527
> >LEON
> >NICARAGUA
> >tel 505-3116586
> >jmmaes at ibw.com.ni
>
>