Subspecies and protection

[Jean-Michel MAES]

Dear Ron,

If the Central American Danaus plexippus subspecies is diffrent that the
other subsepecies of the Americas, why not describe it ? It is not very
practical for me to put :
Danaus plexippus ssp. "undescribe species"
or something like that.

Sincerely,

Jean-Michel MAES
MUSEO ENTOMOLOGICO
AP 527
LEON
NICARAGUA
tel 505-3116586
jmmaes at ibw.com.ni
----- Original Message -----
From: Ron Gatrelle <gatrelle at tils-ttr.org>
To: Jean-Michel MAES <jmmaes at ibw.com.ni>; Leps-l <leps-l at lists.yale.edu>
Sent: Monday, October 16, 2000 10:29 PM
Subject: Re: Subspecies and protection


> >From Ron Gatrelle.
> Dear Jean-Michel,
>     You didn't ask me, but I'd say for now the most accurate
classification
> is "subspecies undetermined."  There are a number of things in the
Caribbean
> which are descendants of Central American taxa. This is because much of
the
> Indies are land masses which broke away from what is now Central America.
> This means that your monarchs may be an undescribed subspecies or a
> "mainland" population of one of the same named entities in the Caribbean.
> Or, as stated by Brown, there may be a sibling species involved somewhere
> here.
>     DeVries (1987) notes that your monarch is morphologically different
and
> non- migratory. However, he still calls it "plexippus" which is a
taxonomic
> error.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jean-Michel MAES" <jmmaes at ibw.com.ni>
> To: <drdn at mail.utexas.edu>
> Cc: <leps-l at lists.yale.edu>
> Sent: Monday, October 16, 2000 10:37 PM
> Subject: RE: Subspecies and protection
>
>
> > 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
> > >
> > >
> >
>
>