d'Abrera Concise Atlas minireview addenda

[Patrick Foley]

I left a few important points out of my minireview.

1) d'Abrera does not cover skippers.
2) He is a splitter at the family level (Danaidae, Ithomiidae,
Heliconiidae, Acraeidae, Libytheidae, Satyridae, Amathusiidae,
Morphidae, Brassolidae all make the cut). Oddly he is a lumper at the
kingdom level, insisting (with no great relevance) on the two kingdom
classification of life. Thank God he didn't put all the butterflies back
into Papilio!
3) His views on the biogeography of Australian butterflies are
astonishing in so many ways I will leave it to others to enjoy on their
own. One hint: fire is involved and indigenous Australians. Also
astonishing are his beliefs concerning geology and the rates of
radioactive decay. As are his views on entropy and time.
4) The butterfly photographs are beautiful. I would have been tempted to
make them full size and drop all the text. Much less embarrassing.

Patrick
patfoley at csus.edu


 
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