USGS data - Shuey-etc.

Heath, Fred Fred.Heath at power-one.com
Tue Jan 30 19:42:34 EST 2001


Dear Ron,
        Something which has driven me crazy as long as I've been pursuing
butterflies (a short 10 years): There seems to be no "taxonomic ruling
body"! With birds, which which I've been associated for many years, there is
the AOU (American Ornithologists' Union) which has a committee which decides
on matters of taxonomy
as well as....hold on to your hats....common English names!
        Folks submit papers with backup data as to why a species should be
split or lumped or moved to another genus, etc. and the committee considers
and finally decides on these matters. A huge anotated check list is
published every so often with the official status.  Is it perfect....no
way....after all these are human beings. A number of birds have gone from
species to sub-species and back again. Names have changed so many times, I
still can't remember if it a Common, Great or American Egret today. But at
least there is a taxonomy with scientific and English names which can be
used by book publishers, so communication is fostered throughout the North
American (north of Mexico) ornithological and birding community.
        Why Lep Soc has never taken this on is beyond me. I know Paul Opler
tried to get a group together and there was some discussion about their
results earlier in Leps-L, but this group didn't seem to have an "official"
sanction which would insure the general acceptance of their conclusions.
Instead, what it seems to me, is that there is somewhat a situation of
anarchy and maybe after years of uncertainy, there is some critical mass
which accepts a particular taxonomic conclusion. In the mean time, every
book which is written contains a different interpretation of the exact
status which is confusing as can be to us plain folks and I guess becomes
downright perplexing to folks such as you in the case of a "species" such as
P. joanae.
---Best regards, Fred
P.S. Since there doesn't seem to be any 'taxonomic ruling body", I was
wondering how you came to question the accuracy  of USGS's taxonomy?
Accuracy compared to what or who?
 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ron Gatrelle [SMTP:gatrelle at tils-ttr.org]
> Sent: Tuesday, January 30, 2001 1:51 PM
> To:   Leps-l
> Subject:      Re: USGS data - Shuey-etc.
>
> First, USGS has a responsibility for accuracy. In far to many cases its
> taxonomy is off. Second, it should clearly state that
> it is not a taxonomic ruling body and its list is far from any official,
> ultimate, or definitive last word on what is and what is not a species.
> (It
> could also make reference to subspecies so that beginners become aware of
> them and their scientific evolutionary importance.)
>
>
>
>
>
 
 
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