Hidden species.

[Ron Gatrelle]

Chris J. Durden wrote.


> Ok Ron. The question is now moot. Nick Grishin just retracted his
> preliminary identification. His specimen was a very variant *falacer*.
>     By the way how many cryptic species do you think are hiding under the
> *calanus falacer* umbrella? Looks like a life's work for some masochist,
if
> the habitat lasts that long.
> ................Chris Durden

A couple to a few. How is that for a scientific answer? Hairstreak
collectors (workers)  have bee scratching their heads over this since the
1800's. Harry Clench, then Steve Roman clued me into the problems 30 years
ago, and I've been scratching mine ever since. But I want to direct this in
another direction though.

We have assumed for a long time that Spring Azures, Tiger Swallowtails,
Banded Hairstreaks etc., etc. were just real common to abundant widespread
species. What we are now learning - through the efforts of
collector-researchers - is that many cryptic species may be cloaked in
these taxa. Or, the not yet species evolutional units that will produce
tomorrows species. So that rather than one abundantly common Azure species,
there are a couple fairly common, some uncommon, and possible others that
are so rare they may be near extinction.

The calanus group needs the same study. Just one example. You collectors
and curators, go through your collections and look for
calanus/falacer/godarti females that have the entire ventral of their
antennal clubs bright vivid red. Group them together and see if a pattern
emerges. David Wright is looking at this along with other head scratchers.
Separate them by tree associations - oak, hickory, etc. Rear. Collect. Then
start scratching and solving the mysteries.

The direction here is that the basic bedrock error of many watchers is that
they have been lead to believe (see the NY times Glassberg post) that
everything CAN be IDed  and thus then "just leave them alone" because every
species (esp. in the eastern US) is KNOWN. This is totally false. Several
times I have read of watchers saying - we saw such and such - and I think:
"I can't believe this. Don't they know they may well have just found a new
species or subspecies? Something so rare it might even deserve emergency
listing on the Endangered Species list!!! These people are totally
taxonomically blind. Who did this to them? Why aren't they being told?"

Whatever anyone else may think - I am for butterflies and moths. We do not
need dumbed-down lepsters. We need people to move beyond being novices, or
the cutesy factor, and to get serious about these critters. More and more
watchers ARE doing just this. Which is why more and more ARE seeing there
IS a need for "scientific" collecting and why someday they WILL see that
they need to be that collector. Why?  Because the patient is in the
emergency room and needs help now and there IS NOT time for DR. So-n-so to
get involved. I don't think the average watcher or collector has any real
clue about just how far behind professional taxonomists are in working out
the mountain of collected but unidentified specimens, species, genera in
their institutions - let alone the thousands of unknown insects that are
being wiped out every day without one specimen ever having been collected
and determined.

Let me speak out on behalf of the butterflies. Hey! They are not all
calanus, or all glaucus, or all ladon. No one knows what they are - yet.
Somebody better find out before another extinctus gets named and another
habitat becomes a new subdivision for Discovery Channel armchair
naturalists to move into. And anyone who wants to stand in the way of this
finding out is not a friend of butterflies and moths.
Ron

PS  To Chris. Can you get me a picture of the Grishin "falacer"? or the
load of it?


 
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