Species definitions!

[Mark Walker]

You're right, of course.

No comment on the 'showcase of ecologically induced Speyeria variation'?.

Mark Walker

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Grkovich, Alex [mailto:agrkovich at tmpeng.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, September 05, 2001 12:25 PM
> To: 'Mark Walker'; Grkovich, Alex; 'Ron Gatrelle'; 'Leps-l'
> Subject: RE: Species definitions!
> 
> 
> Oh, I'm not saying the field work is not necessary. Quite the 
> contrary! But
> if we observe the countless Fritillaries with the intent of 
> merely drawing
> up a tally of "245 X, 126 Y, 57 Z... etc." without 
> progressing beyond this
> level of study, then what is the worth of the field work, either to
> ourselves or to science? The poor fellow who has taken the 
> time and spent
> the energy to determine that there were "223" instead of 
> "225" Juvenal's
> Duskywings (and I'm using an example of a posting I saw from 
> this past May-
> and the poor fellow reported them as "Juvenile's") himself is probably
> unaware of the treasures that exist on the other side of the door of
> understanding. That's what I'm talking about. This is why 
> someone taking the
> time to count the actual number of Cabbages seems worthless 
> to me while the
> person may be at same time being blind to the observation of 
> the degree of
> white banding on an astyannax or the degree of hybridization between
> weidemeyerii and rubrofasciata etc. etc. Or even to the 
> understanding of why
> some astyannax have bands and others don't. And the worst 
> factor is that
> some people in leadership capacities permit or even propagate 
> ignorance in
> others.
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From:	Mark Walker [SMTP:MWalker at gensym.com]
> > Sent:	Wednesday, September 05, 2001 3:15 PM
> > To:	'agrkovich at tmpeng.com'; 'Ron Gatrelle'; 'Leps-l'
> > Subject:	RE: Species definitions!
> > 
> > Alex wrote:
> > 
> > > I guess what bothers me the most is that such very deep 
> > > mysteries have been
> > > replaced by endless reports of "I saw 23 Orange Sulphurs 
> and 15 Common
> > > Sulphurs and 223 Juvenals Duskywings and ...." And anyway, 
> > > since when has it
> > > become so important to actually count Cabbage Butterflies????
> > 
> > Ahhh, yes, but I guess it IS more important to encourage 
> field work of any
> > sort - even if the notion of counting does seem a bit less 
> interesting
> > (not
> > to mention accurate) than sampling.  I, for one, would like 
> to know when
> > someone sees hordes of Juvenal's Duskywings.  In fact, I'm 
> sorry I don't
> > provide more information on frequency in my field posts - 
> I've mostly
> > stopped putting comments like 'common' or 'numerous' in 
> them.  A lot of
> > this
> > information is just as, if not more, important than the 
> fact that the
> > species was sighted at all (which I guess is Alex's point 
> anyway - we
> > don't
> > talk about it like Klots did - at least not much, anymore). 
>  For example,
> > on
> > my most recent trip (while in Grant, Co. OR), I found lots of
> > Fritillaries.
> > One of them was Speyeria hydaspe.  All the other species of 
> Speyeria were
> > fresh.  Absolutely none of the S. hydaspe were fresh, and 
> in fact there
> > were
> > few with whole wings at all.  This would tell me that S. 
> hydaspe flies
> > quite
> > a bit earlier than the other Speyeria (along with S. cybele leto), a
> > simple
> > enough conclusion - but one of significant interest nonetheless.
> > 
> > Incidentally, I'm looking over the races of Speyeria 
> according to Howe.
> > Awesome.  I don't care what you call them specifically, 
> there's little
> > more
> > fascinating then a drawer showcasing ecologically induced Speyeria
> > variation.
> > 
> > 
> > Mark Walker
> > Oceanside, CA
> 

 
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