Butterfly names/Scientific names help

[Anne Kilmer]

Michael Gochfeld wrote:

> Ken et al.
> 
> After years of unsuccessful herbiciding and spot-weedingI have learned to love
> dandelions in the front lawn.  They add brilliant color.  Neighbors don't think
> much of my choice.
> 
> I have also learned to love squirrels at my bird feeders despite the outrageous
> cost of feeding these formerly unwanted guests. I tried trapping them one year,
> and with the resident animals gone there was a huge influx of homeless
> squirrels. My 94 year old mother finds their antics very entertaining as they
> ingeniously insinuate themselves into the various exclusionary devices that I
> was assured would keep them out.
> 
> As you say about butterfly names, it is a vain hope for congruity, consistency,
> and consensus.  Not only don't the names for particular taxa hold still, but the
> butterflies themselves are changing over time.
> 
> So like the squirrels and dandelions, I've learned to love the butterflies and
> not worry to much about interpretations.  My shock came when I tried to
> reconcile the different treatments of families and subfamilies.  It took a
> number of years to realize that if the butterflies themselves were unpreturbed,
> I could make do with whatever names I chose.
> 
> Mike Gochfeld
> 

Ah yes, learn to love your weeds. Works well until the curry tree 
decides that seedlings and suckers make the ideal groundcover.

And then there's the Cyclargus/Hemiargus dispute, which roared to the 
surface just when we needed a happy consensus as to what bug we were 
actually trying to rescue. All of them, of course, by preserving and 
restoring habitat, but we do need to get the names right or we look 
contentious.
Actually, we *are* contentious, but we count upon DEP (Department of 
Environmental Protection) ombudsman Benjamin Brumberg to get all 
interested parties working together.
We are arguing about it, politely, on TILS leps-talk, and planning how 
to work with the bugs on the MBBRP list, the Miami Blue Butterfly 
Restoration Project. I am hoping that, as negotiations continue, all 
interested parties will join that list, as members of the Miami Blue 
Crew, and we will be able to work together.
It has taken us a remarkably long time to get to this point, and soon we 
will be able to savor our success.
Anne Kilmer
Vice Chairman-Operations MBBRP





 
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