Dominican Republic

[mexicodoug]

Mike wrote:

"D.S.Smith, LD Miller and JY Miller 1994, Butterflies of the West Indies and 
South Florida also covers the West Indies, but is not a field guide.  It is 
a great book, although for some reason it completely avoids English or 
"common" names."

Hello Mike, Lepsters,

This is not only a GREAT book, it is the GREATEST book on the region by such 
established professional Lepidopterists, which is a landmark!  I completely 
recommend it!!!  Copies may be available from the Florida Museum of Natural 
History (352) 273-2060, or 273-2041, or email scrandall at  flmnh  dot ufl 
dot  edu as

IMO, Anything published afterwards will benefit by this first rate 
publication's landmark publication for the region, and draw upon it.  NO 
qualifications (whether serious, provocative or silly) are needed in this 
department (well maybe if you plan to use it as a field guide, got to put it 
in a backpack)...  Anyone can get a list of common names anywhere ... they 
are a dime a dozen ---actually theyre free.

As a matter of fact if you transport yourself back to the time of its 
publication, you can find that another book was edited by one of the authors 
called something like "A Compendium of Common Names Lepidoptera of North 
America" and I thought it was published by the LepSoc which treated the 
subject of common names in a dignified and supportive manner rather than 
using the book to favor "fun" names, it surveyed what what actually in use 
and the sources.  That was State-of-the-Art and a great reference, so if you 
need a reason Mike, I'd say that was it!

Now, in the case of the Dominican Republic, where the language is Spanish, 
common "English" names for butterflies for visitors is somewhat confusing to 
the locals w/Spanish common names that in some few but very interesting 
cases could be used there.  If you want US common names for non-endemic 
butterflies, you can write them in the Smith book edited by the Millers' 
book over the descriptions if that is helpful, or even the adequate 
illustrations by Richard Lewington.  Problem easily solved by defacing the 
book.  The info and the illustrations it contains are not so easy to add!

Also, "Butterflies of Hispaniola" which has no pictures for use in field ID 
(sorry if it has been mentioned, I didn't see it) is an option:
ISBN 0813009022
The Butterflies of Hispaniola. Schwartz, Albert. 1989. University of Florida 
Press, Gainesville, 580 p.
http://www.alibris.com/search/books/isbn/0813009022

Best Butterflying,
Doug






----- Original Message ----- 
From: Michael Gochfeld
To: hbrodkin at cox.net ; Alex Bic
Cc: Leps-l
Sent: Tuesday, December 18, 2007 10:33 AM
Subject: RE: Dominican Republic


Riley's FIELD GUIDE A field guide to the butterflies of the West Indies, 224 
p., Collins, Londonis dated 1975, but although there have been a lot of 
changes since then, it is still the most convenient field guide, including a 
checklist of species by island.

D.S.Smith, LD Miller and JY Miller 1994, Butterflies of the West Indies and 
South Florida also covers the West Indies, but is not a field guide.  It is 
a great book, although for some reason it completely avoids English or 
"common" names.

Mike Gochfeld





From: owner-leps-l at lists.yale.edu [mailto:owner-leps-l at lists.yale.edu] On 
Behalf Of Hank Brodkin
Sent: Tuesday, December 18, 2007 9:49 AM
To: 'Alex Bic'
Cc: Leps-l
Subject: RE: Dominican Republic

Alex:
Though I was a Lorquin member - I have not been to Los Angles in about 10 
years.  I know relatively little about the butterflies of the Caribbean - 
though I do think there are a couple of books out.  I know of no one who has 
collected there.
I am CC'ing your request to the Leps-l mail list - perhaps someone there can 
help you!
To those on Leps-l - please reply directly to Alex at the address below.


Hank Brodkin
Carr Canyon, Cochise County, AZ
hbrodkin at cox.net
"Butterflies of Arizona - a Photographic Guide"
"Finding Butterflies in Arizona - a Guide to the Best Sites"
http://members.cox.net/hbrodkin/



From: Alex Bic [mailto:bicaliber at gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, December 17, 2007 1:36 PM
To: Hank Brodkin
Subject: Dominican Republic

Who knows if you still remember me, but we talked a while back about Mexico. 
Btw, were you at the Lorquin meeting the other day? I'm the 17 year-old kid 
that brought in the droor of Parides.
Anyway, I will be taking a short trip to the Dominican Republic in a few 
days and I would really appreciate any advice on collecting locations or 
people that you may know who have been there. Maybe you have some specimens 
from there that have data? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your time,
Alex 


 
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