USGS data - Shuey-etc.

[Ron Gatrelle]

Dear Fred,
    This may or may not be a can of opened worms. No, it is absolutely a
can of huge worms. So here goes. The following is not my idea - it is what
I have been told by some who do both birds and butterflies. The
Lepidopterists' Society is to NABA, USGS etc. as the Ornithological Union
is to the Audubon Society.
    Therefore the Miller & Brown list (1981), as updated by Ferris (1989),
is The List. (Can you hear the frass hitting the fan?)  This is why The
List was adopted almost as is by Hodges in MONA (1983).
    Next.  Can anyone imagine the Audubon Society not approving of the
Ornithological Union's taxonomy and going off to reinvent the wheel? The
truth is that some do not like the Ferris update in particular and have
gone off on their own. Worms, worms, worms.
    There seems to have been some in-fighting over names in the Lep Soc
leadership the last several years -  at least factionalism. (I have been
out of that loop for a long time. My term on the Executive Council was in
the mid 70's.)
    Insect taxonomy is more complex than bird or mammal taxonomy, so even
without factionalism universal acceptance and stability will probably never
be acheived. Thus, people like myself keep pointing to the International
Code of Zoological Nomenclature and its rules as The Authority.
    The way we at The International Lepidoptera Survey plan to handle this
is by introducing the TC-ISBN (Taxonomically Correct - Index of Scientific
Butterfly Names). This list is under the auspices of Harry Pavulaan (see
USGS list), so I leave any more info on that to him.
 
RG
 
----- Original Message -----
From: "Heath, Fred" <Fred.Heath at power-one.com>
To: "Leps-l" <Leps-l at lists.yale.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, January 30, 2001 7:42 PM
Subject: RE: USGS data - Shuey-etc.
 
 
> 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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>
 
 
 
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