Species concepts (and subspecies)

[OLIVER JEFFREY CATLIN]

I don't know about L. idas anna, but I'd agree with some reworking of the
L. xanthoides complex.  When was the last time L. x. xanthoides and L. x.
dione saw each other?  I don't know of any points of contact or
intermediate populations of the these two lineages (I don't think anyone
would consider L. editha an intermediate of these two).  Which of course
brings up the similar situation of Erora laeta...

Jeff Oliver
jeffrey.oliver at colorado.edu

On Mon, 26 Nov 2001, Kondla, Norbert FOR:EX wrote:

> The two taxa listed below are actually good examples of different taxonomic
> interpretations.  Almost anyone can certainly recognize them as being
> "different" but that is where the agreement stops. If memory serves both
> anna and dione were described as distinct species. Subsequently they were
> lumped by somebody without any reason that I am aware of.  More recently a
> number of people have published these as distinct species again and I view
> them as distinct species on the basis of published and unpublished
> information at my disposal.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: OLIVER JEFFREY CATLIN [mailto:Jeffrey.Oliver at Colorado.EDU]
> Sent: Monday, November 26, 2001 12:39 PM
> To: Lep List
> Subject: RE: Species concepts (and subspecies)
>
>
> Is there really any objection to the existence to subspecies?  I don't
> think anyone could deny that there are definite 'varieties' or 'races' of
> species that are consistently more similar to one another than they are to
> other members of the species.  Two (more) examples are Lycaeides idas anna
> and Lycaena xanthoides dione.  Most everyone can recognize these two
> things to subspecies right away.
>
> However, the biological meaning of 'subspecies' seems to be in contention,
> at the very least because formal subspecies definitions are few and far
> between.  Not to mention the difficulty with species definitions!
>
> It all comes back to the human need to name EVERYTHING.  I don't think
> it's a negative quality, we just run into trouble when we try to
> standardize things...
>
> Jeff Oliver
> jeffrey.oliver at colorado.edu
>
>
>
>
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