Red-spotted Admirals??

[Clay Taylor]

Alex -

    It's the same old story - money.

    Think of all the money generated by the sales of "butterfly binoculars",
field guides, accessories, etc., and travel dollars that they bring to the
table.  You don't think the Texas Butterfly Festival is put on by the
Mission, TX Chamber of Commerce only because it's a fun event, do you?
Heck, if someone wanted to give you money to show them to a new butterfly
species for their life list, would you turn it down?  If yes, why?

    On the brighter side of the issue, however, is what the birders can
bring to the table - 1) new blood to the field (from the sound of many of
the postings on this list, there are not many younger people studying
butterflies in the field), 2) A huge increase in the numbers of people
seeing things out in the field (yeah, there are bound to be some incorrect
reports, but that is far outweighed by the potential of finding new sites,
etc.), 3) The potential of backing by public and private groups that have
heretofore been advocates for land acquisition, conservation, etc., for bird
species (they fence off Piping Plover nesting areas, but are the host plants
for a critical butterfly species protected? Not in my state.)

        Rather than moan and complain about it, the "traditional" butterfly
community should embrace the good points, try and educate the new people,
and ultimately roll with the changes to make the best of them.  Yes, it may
ultimately be a fad and the birders will lose interest and go away, but I
rather doubt it.

    Since the turn of the century, the ornithological community has changed
from a collector-based discipline to using field sightings,
catch-sample-and-release techniques, and minimally-invasive laboratory
study.  Specimens are still taken, but at a fraction of the former rates.

    Maybe in the future we will be able to catch a butterfly, take a tiny
portion of organic material, run a full-scale genetic analysis on it, and
release it unharmed.

Clay Taylor
Moodus, CT
ctaylor at att.net

----- Original Message -----
From: "Grkovich, Alex" <agrkovich at tmpeng.com>
To: <kennk at ix.netcom.com>; <HpAzures at aol.com>; <Leps-l at lists.yale.edu>
Sent: Monday, July 30, 2001 7:13 AM
Subject: RE: Red-spotted Admirals??


> I don't know why some are "pandering" so much to "birders" coming into
> "butterflying". What on earth is going on?
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Kenn Kaufman [SMTP:kennk at ix.netcom.com]
> > Sent: Saturday, July 28, 2001 1:15 PM
> > To: HpAzures at aol.com; Leps-l at lists.yale.edu
> > Subject: Re: Red-spotted Admirals??
> >
> >
> > Harry Pavulaan wrote:
> >
> > > NABA has revised the common name of Limenitis arthemis astyanax to
> > > "Red-spotted Admiral".  I presume this was done in the name of
> > standardizing
> > > genus names.  Thus, all Limenitis (correctly Basilarchia?) are now
> > > "Admirals".  However, I wonder how many newcomers will now confuse Red
> > > Admirals with Red-spotted Admirals?
> >
> > My comments are not meant as a defense of NABA (their latest
> > checklist strikes me as a step backwards in many ways) but as
> > a clarification.  I just looked at the list, and actually they apply the
> > name "Red-spotted Admiral" only to Limenitis arthemis in a
> > larger sense.  They continue to apply "Red-spotted Purple" to
> > L. a. astyanax, and "White Admiral" to L. a. arthemis.   Not stated,
> > but presumed, I suppose, is that L. a. rubrofasciata would also
> > be a White Admiral, and L. a. arizonensis would also be a
> > Red-spotted Purple, under this system.   In practice, the name
> > "Red-spotted Admiral" wouldn't apply to anything we would see
> > in the field or in the trays.   The problem with having such a name
> > at all is that birders coming into "butterflying" bring along a
> > prejudice against using English names for subspecies, and
> > they may think it's "correct" to use the larger group name for
> > anything in this complex that they see.  ---  Anyone on this list
> > who has influence at NABA might suggest that their members
> > be encouraged to continue to use the more precise names for
> > these taxa, and to not use "Red-spotted Admiral" at all.
> >
> > Kenn Kaufman
> > Tucson, AZ
> > kennk at ix.netcom.com
> >
> >
> >
> >
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