Boloria halli

[Kondla, Norbert FOR:EX]

This local butterfly from Wyoming, USA was described in 1940 as a subspecies
of the European butterfly B. pales.  Unfortunately the describer gave
absolutely no reasons whatever as to why this very distinctive butterfly
should be considered the same species as a distinctly different butterfly
that lives on another continent.  In more recent times people have been
treating halli as a subspecies of another European Boloria - napaea.  Since
Boloria halli does not look like either pales or napaea; I am wondering by
what feat of taxonomic legerdemain one would connect these butterflies at
the species level.  Please drop me a line if you have one or more literature
citations that explain this mystery.  I am guessing that this may be another
case of Holarcticus mythica by application of the genitalic species concept
:-) Where's the beef, er, I mean evidence :-)

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


 
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