Red Admirals - USGS Map - South Carolina

[Mark Walker]

When I first visited the USGS butterfly site back in 1996 there were only
five or six states even covered.  At the time I was living in Vermont, but
alas there were no images or county records hotlinked for this State (or any
other NE states for that matter).  I knew that this data was actively being
aggregated (thanks to Harry Pavulaan and those of us in NE who were actually
out in the bush), but I was as elated as a schoolboy in the candy store when
the data started showing up on this site.

Today there is more information here than I can keep up with.  Newly
described species are being added, results from careful studies on
controversial taxonomies are being included, and new records are being
added.  As I travel to many of the 50 states each year, I use this site many
times a week.  For me, it has replaced the need for a field guide entirely
(even though I always include one or two for cozy airplane reading).  Is it
complete or entirely accurate?  Heavens no.  But the amount of work and
effort behind it is daunting, and I'm glad I'm not being asked to build it
from scratch.

I'm glad that there are dedicated butterflyers in pockets across the U.S.
I'm always interested to hear about their perspectives on and corrections to
the public record.  It is these people who are contributing to and improving
the information available to the rest of us - and I know that Paul, Harry,
and Ray (and their supporting cast) are always interested in hearing from
them.

Interestingly, I've never collected butterflies in South Carolina.  I have
never attempted to qualify the SC data on the USGS site.  But I'm sure I'll
be there sooner or later, so I'm all for Ron and others getting the data
right and doing their part in further improving this wonderful asset.

Thanks to all of you,

Mark Walker
Oceanside, CA


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ron Gatrelle [mailto:gatrelle at tils-ttr.org]
> Sent: Sunday, May 27, 2001 8:40 PM
> To: rbenavid at hotmail.com
> Cc: Leps-l
> Subject: Re: Red Admirals - USGS Map - South Carolina
> 
> 
> Nearly all the records on the SC site are mine, especially my 
> published
> skipper records. I had also published a paper on the 
> butterflies of the
> southern coastal area but evidently this was not consulted. 
> There are also
> a lot of SC records from the Lep. Soc. season summary that 
> have never been
> added. There are also a couple of big errors on SC - most notably the
> record of Chlosyne harrisi. That one is absolutely false - yet is it
> colored "confirmed". The USGS project is an enormous 
> undertaking and as can
> be seen some areas of the US are still virtually virgin 
> territory when it
> comes to knowing what leps are there. Looking at the SC map 
> may help folks
> understand why I am publishing so much taxonomic info from 
> this area. Also
> remember that a great many of the eastern US butterflies were 
> described
> from neighboring Burke and Screven counties GA - areas that have had
> virtually no collecting there since the time of John Abbot.
> Ron
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Rudy Benavides" <rbenavid at hotmail.com>
> To: <leps-l at lists.yale.edu>
> Sent: Sunday, May 27, 2001 11:10 PM
> Subject: Re: Red Admirals - USGS Map - South Carolina
> 
> 
> >
> >
> >
> > Paul Cherubini wrote:
> > >There are no confirmed records of Painted Ladies, American 
> Ladies or
> > > >Monarchs
> > >in South Carolina either:
> >
> > Hi Paul
> >
> > That's pretty amazing.  Any idea how the confirmation process works?
> >
> > Rudy
> > Maryland
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