correct names

[Michael Gochfeld]

"In response to my recent posting, Alex wrote: Grkovich, Alex" wrote:
Just recently, we have been "informed" that the Hairstreak favonius is
now to be called the Oak Hairstreak (?). Never mind that several
Hairstreaks use Oaks as the foodplant.   Or that  all
> > Limentits arthemis are now to be referred to as "Red Spotted Admirals"?

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I agree entirely that OAK HAIRSTREAK is a poor compromise because other
species of hairstreaks like Oaks. Of all the species on the New Jersey
list, this is the one whose nomenclature we dealt with most extensively
in BUTTERFLIES OF NEW JERSEY.  To make a long story short, when Satyrium
ontario (usually published as Fixsenia Ontario) and known as Northern
Hairstreak was lumped with Satyrium favonius (Southern Hairstreak), the
scientific name favonius had priority (Smith 1797 vs Edwards 1868).
Unfortunately, the name Southern Hairstreak was chosen for the species
as a whole (even though priority doesn't affect vernacular names (as Ron
and Alex point out, there's no international convention). 

It was particularly annoying for New Jersey where the race ontario
occurs, and where Southern Hairstreak was doubly inappropriate.  But, as
we pointed out the combined species is NEITHER particularly Northern nor
particularly Southern in its distribution as Satyriums go. We
compromised and our species entry calls it the "Southern or Northern
Hairstreak"---an act of rebellion since we had earlier claimed that our
common names followed the NABA checklist. 

We concluded our writeup as follows: "Opler and Krizek (1984) state that
favonius is named after the "western spring wind [Latin]" certainly a
neutral name for this species. An alternative name would be the Scarce
Hairstreak since it is generally rare throughout its range."  

I'm not sure now, just how scarce this butterfly is. It does seem to be
sporadic, showing up in fair numbers in one place, one year and then not
found at all the next. But I don't know whether this applies to the
"southern" Hairstreak. So maybe Scarce Hairstreak isn't appropriate for
this species, and probably other Hairstreaks are Scarce as well. 

Other alternatives would be "Spring Wind Hairstreak"  "Favonius
Hairstreak".  etc.

My understanding is that the NABA Committee avoided coining new names as
much as possible. Moreover, it did try to formulate some naming
conventions for common names, and these were articulated in its
publication. 

Just to get in a dig, however, I think that this species is a poor
example if one believes in the stability of scientific names. 

 



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Michael Gochfeld, MD, PhD
Professor of Environmental and Community Medicine
UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and
Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute
170 Frelinghuysen Road
Piscataway, NJ 08854  USA
732-445-0123 X627  fax 732-445-0130

 
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