leeuwi and other taxonomic stuff

[Ron Gatrelle]

It is still true that a picture is worth a thousand words. It is probably
good that the photos of appalachia appalachia and appalachia leeuwi are in
black and white and not color. This is because their distinctness as
subspecies rests not so much on their color phases (brown, slate, gray
etc.) but on basic markings (pattern) and contrast.
There are a lot of things that are broadly accepted as valid subspecies
that are a whole lot less distinct than appalachia and leewui.

The very first step in being "expert" in taxonomy is familiarity with
topotypical populations of named entities. Why are topotypes so important?
First, many of the old original descriptions are extremely short and have
no pictures - or pictures and no text. Next when pictures are present they
are only paintings - some of which are horrible copies of copies. Second,
even photographed specimens may be atypical or not be indicative of the
degree of normal variation in a specific taxon. Many modern taxa were
described from only one specimen or 4 or 5 specimens. Third, museum
specimens can also be misleading. Aged specimens may no longer look
anything like fresh or live wild specimens. Also, the collectors may have
focused on one "form" in a wild population and thus a series can give a
wrong impression about size or variation. (e.g. don't birdwing collectors
"go" for the biggest specimens?)

 If a taxon is one of the many described from the coastal junction of
Georgia/South Carolina it behooves those who write books about Northeastern
or Floridian leps to first be familiar with topotypes (or as close as they
can get to such) before declaring the taxonomic placement of biological
entities in an area. There are several things that lepidopterists in the
northeast and in Florida "think" are such and such but they are in fact far
from it. I'll mention one I have already published on - Fixsenia favonius
favonius (Bull. S. Lepid. Soc. #2, 1985) Favonius does not occur in
peninsular Florida. (I have another paper on this that will be out this
year in TTR. It takes care of all the loose ends - at least in the eastern
US. You western guys have some work to do.)

A few months ago someone emailed me that they had been trying for some time
to find who it was, and in what paper, that actually sank ontario into
favonius. They said they finally contacted Robbins at the USNM and asked
him. He said Ron Gatrelle. I'm sure he was referring to my 85 paper (no
reprints left). Why mention this? It might surprise a lot of people who did
what, and more importantly, what has never actually been done! (A lot of
stuff is just published opinion with no research behind it at all - that is
not to say the opinion may not be correct. But nothing should be put forth
where there has not been a formal paper published on the subject). Humm,
getting too long - again.

Ron


 
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