correct + coras/peckius

[Clay Taylor]

Ron -

    Fair enough.  After taking a few Excedrin, it all makes sense,

    Seriously, though, an amateur like me has no possible way of knowing
these facts, or even WHERE to look to find them.  I'm not a serious
entomologist and never will be, but I'm a pretty good field observer that
relies on material published for the masses for "correct" information
(including both common and scientific names).

    I realize that the whole "Names" thread started out as a
venting-of-frustration exercise (albeit a very public one), but for me there
were some interesting nuggets of information to be sifted out of the
rhetoric (it took a LOT of sifting).

    That's why I subscribe to this list - to hear about what butterflies
others are seeing across the country (a too-small percentage of the total
messages), and to learn new stuff from people that know more about the
subject than I do.   The grandstanding, snobbery, and intolerance that seem
to dominate the postings oftentimes make reading them quite tedious and
frustrating.  Let's hear more field reports, and less arguing.

Clay Taylor
Moodus, CT
ctaylor at att.net


----- Original Message -----
From: "Ron Gatrelle" <gatrelle at tils-ttr.org>
To: "Leps-l" <Leps-l at lists.yale.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2001 4:42 PM
Subject: Re: correct + coras/peckius


>
> Clay Taylor wrote
>
> snip    ....When Bill Yule recently inquired about
> > the two scientific names (Polites coras vs. Polites peckius) for Peck's
> > Skipper (also called Yellow-Patch Skipper by some) , there was a
> thundering
> > silence from the scientific community for over a week.  Finally, the
> > question was answered in a roundabout way that concluded, in effect,
that
> > there was disagreement as to who named the bug the first, and there were
> > still disagreements about which was the proper name.
>
> Actually, I was going to answer that immediately but decided not to as I
> undoubtedly post too much as it is. I left this to others. Chris Durden
> gave a good generalized answer today. To answer the question, one has to
be
> familiar with all the taxonomic papers dirrectly on the subject of coras
> vs. peckius. It is unfortunate that those who write the "guides" are
nearly
> always just quoting someone eles's opinion   which in turn was based on
> some other's opinion.  In many ways I do not fault them for this. Taxonomy
> is work and to up to speed on everything is tough.
>
> Now, the phrase "correct name" as I used it to = scientific epithets, does
> not apply here.  Coras vs. peckius is a technical question about which of
> these  two taxonomically "available names" is the "valid name" for this
> skipper.  This is a question of "nomenclatural correctness" - which is
very
> different than scientific IDs (as a category) being correct in opposition
> to common names (as a catagory).
>
> The changes we see in common names are a matter of personal whims. The
> changes that are observed within correct names are dictated by 1) the
rules
> (Principles of Priority) of the ICZN as 2) applied to, and in conjunction
> with, the best available science at the current time relative to organic
> evolutionary hierarchical relationships. Here I have a bone to pick with
> the "professionals" who seem to think they are "free" to choose what ever
> scientific ID they want. See the ICZN glossary under names and then under
> "valid".  A taxon only has one valid (nomenclaturally correct name). Now,
> there are at times valid arguments among "experts" about which available
> names should be employed - especially at the level of genus. But specific
> and subspecific names should be fairly hard and fast once "pinned" down.
> This is email and I see my frustration already at the communicative
> limitations I am under. So I will quit here - for now.
> Ron
>
>
>
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