EASTERN SPEYERIA

[Grkovich, Alex]

Hi, all

Not that I wanted to stoke up some old fires that have long since gone out,
but I couldn't help relaying this discussion to everyone.

My good friend and colleague Ron Gatrelle and I were having a long
conversation on the taxonomic problems involving the eastern Speyeria (not
the western, mind you) and the problems associated with an overall lack of
published accounts of eastern subspecies of S. cybele, aphrodite, and
atlantis etc. I pointed out how I am finding, for example, cybele in
northern NH that do not look like nominate cybele, but look like subspecies
novascotiae or pseudocarpenteri etc. neither of which are listed anywhere as
occurring in NH; Ron then pointed out how Paul Grey had told him that the
aphrodite and atlantis of the southern Appalachians are worthy of being
assigned separate subspecific status, and how since the passing of Paul
Grey, there really is no Speyeria expert to consult. Etc. Etc.

I then pointed out to run the virtual absurdity of the statement made by Bob
Robbins in his written introduction in the first "Butterflies through
Binoculars" book, where he says something to the effect that "...collectors
who become tired of catching the same butterfly over and over can move over
to watching and using binoculars..." I then pointed out to Ron (as if he
doesn't know himself) how much undiscovered knowledge there really is, and
how catching a representative of every butterfly taxa will be virtually
impossible and how much study there remains just in terms of eastern
taxonomy, let alone western.

Ron's response was as follows, and I quote him directly: " In twenty years
we can write: 'Those watchers who get tired of watching the same thing over
and over should try collecting, where they will find that they are not
really the same thing."

Just in Massachusetts all summer, I saw not one single "watcher's" reference
to the Northern Crescent (P. cocyta) having been observed, and I saw them in
Massachusetts by the dozens; is this because nobody was collecting them and
properly observing what was being seen? Or are people totally unconcerned
about whether or not a specimen is being properly identified? Also, the
authors of "The Butterflies of Canada" state their suspicion, now that we're
on the subject of Phyciodes, that there is very possibly a second Pearl
Crescent species, hiding undiscovered behind the "mask" of P. tharos. Are
there any "watchers" out there that care? Or are we going to continue seeing
the same tired accounts of someone seeing "23 Orange Sulphurs, 16 Clouded
Sulphurs, 76 Cabbage Whites", or "I saw 54 migrating Red Admirals flying
through my backyard in Gloucester, MA while I was watering the tomatoes
between 11:32 AM and 3:56PM today. They were all flying northnortheastward.
In a few days, they'll probably reach Dave's lupine garden in Rockport".

And what's this with all of the "migrating butterflies": We have reports now
of "migrating Tiger Swallowtails", supposedly "flying north" in late
summer!!! Ha!  

Alex Grkovich, P.E.
TMP Consulting Engineers, Inc.
52 Temple Place
Boston, MA 02111
617.357.6060 X329
617.357.5188 FAX
agrkovich at tmpeng.com


 
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