P. joanae, Name Committees misconceptions

[David Webster]

Hi Felix and All,        Feb 3, 2001
    Just a few pedestrian comments directed to no one in
particular and
not limited to leps; a condensed, I hope, reaction to this
ongoing
discussion--  and one question about a passage in your message.


Felix Sperling wrote:

>  and raises the possibility that wing pattern differences
> are not a fail safe indicator of underlying genetic differences at
> the level of geographic races.
>

    I don't understand how, in the absence of underlying genetic
differences, there can be differences in wing pattern.

>  Based on my experience in butterfly counts and with general
> naturalists, I'm betting that the majority are irritated by or even
> hostile toward the confusion between current guides.

    Name changes, without apparent good reason, are annoying.
Omission or
bald mention of forms and subspecies is also an irritant. But
from my
viewpoint, the major irritant is the lack of practical and
affordable
guides to identification [e.g. Knull, 1951. The Checkered Beetles
of
Ohio, ~81 pp., $0.75 as example of a practical guide; keys, text
and
illustrations].
    Today one can chose between original publications, in which
illustrations are often limited to SEM images of genitalia, or
picture
books with almost no text; moths for dummies. Why has the middle
ground
[keys, text & figures] been left almost blank for ~50 years ?
    Why do so few participants on Jeopardy and Who Wants to be a
Millionaire know even simple biological questions ?  What does
this say
about where Taxonomists should place their priorities ?
Yours truly, Dave Webster, Kentville, Nova Scotia

 
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