http___www.theskepticalmoth.com_2013_06_05_the-last-butterfly-described-in-the-us__lang_ga_1.xml
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The Last Butterfly Described in the US? By Chris Grinter, on June 5th, 2013 I came across this short article today claiming that this recent description of the hairstreak butterfly, Ministrymon janevicroy Glassberg 2013, may in fact be the “last truly distinctive butterfly species left to be discovered in the United States…. [and] the era of new U.S. butterfly species is ending”. I find that statement a little bit odd. One one hand it seems obvious, most of the butterflies in the United States were described long ago. 90% of the hairstreak butterflies were described before 1900 and 97.5% before 2000 (R. Robbins pers. On the other hand it gives me an itch in the back of my brain that may falsely imply we’ve completed a task and we can move past collecting or research on butterflies. I don’t think the authors intended the latter – and while it’s good to realize we’ve come this far in butterfly taxonomy, it might be helpful to discuss how far we haven’t come (especially when you consider moths!). The paper itself (free from Zookeys above) is great – it very carefully outlines the case to separate these species and I would easily agree with their conclusions. The closest the authors get to saying this is the last butterfly to be described in the US is here at the end of page 14 and onto page 15. The Eumaeini fauna of the United States is well-documented, and most species described in the past 75 years have arguably been cryptic species that had been overlooked because of wing pattern similarity with known species. In sharp contrast, slightly more than 20% of the Central and South American eumaeine fauna is undescribed (Robbins 2004b), but the vast majority of these undescribed species are exceedingly rare in museum collections, unlike M. janevicroy. Assessing variation of these rare species remains an obstacle to documentation. And as it turns out the lines about the last butterfly were from a press release written by the authors (pers. comm.). But to me it sounds like splitting hairs, are these butterflies really that distinct? New butterflies are still being described from the US from less obvious characters as eye color, but often have large differences in the genitalia – and these characters can often be much more distinctive than a color feature that fades in preserved specimens. So, yes, this is perhaps the last species to be found that could be told apart in the field. But if anything it points at how much we need specimens in collections to figure these things out in the first place. The authors used 88 specimens of M. janevicroy and compared them to hundreds of other specimens of other species. Good thing there are collectors working hard in the field to find as many of these butterflies as possible (and often at the time not knowing exactly what they are catching). As lepidopterists look closer at the differences separating many of our more diminutive species new names are created to describe what was once thought to be one larger, wide-ranging, single species. And any readers of my blog should well be aware that many, many moth species are left to be described in the United States. I know of a few revisions that are upcoming that are going to nearly double the size of relatively large families of big and well collected moths – not to mention how little progress we’ve made in the microlepidoptera. One estimate I’ve heard suggests that only 20% of the Tortricidae moth species have been described! When intensive revisions are conducted of these smaller groups the species numbers explode. Go out and collect! Related Comments are closed.
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An Féileacán seo caite Cur síos orthu sna Stáit Aontaithe? Ag Chris Grinter, ar an 5 Meitheamh, 2013 Tháinig mé trasna seo alt gearr lá atá inniu ann ag éileamh go an cur síos gairid an féileacán stiallach, Ministrymon janevicroy Glassberg 2013, D'fhéadfadh a bheith i ndáiríre ar an “speiceas féileacán seo caite go fírinneach sainiúil d'fhág a fuair sé amach sna Stáit Aontaithe…. [agus] an ré na U.S nua. speiceas féileacán Tá dar críoch”. Bhfaighidh mé go ráiteas beagán corr. Ceann amháin lámh dealraíonn sé soiléir, Rinneadh cur síos ar an chuid is mó de na féileacáin sna Stáit Aontaithe i bhfad ó shin. 90% de na féileacáin stiallach Rinneadh cur síos sula 1900 agus 97.5% roimh 2000 (R. Pers Robbins. comm.). Ar an láimh eile, tugann sé dom itch i gcúl mo inchinn a d'fhéadfadh a chiallaíonn go bréagach atá tasc críochnaithe againn agus is féidir linn bogadh a bhailiú nó taighde ar fhéileacáin atá caite. Ní dóigh liom go bhfuil an údair i gceist ag an dara – agus cé go bhfuil sé go maith a bhaint amach againn teacht seo i bhfad i tacsanomaíocht féileacán, D'fhéadfadh sé a bheith ina chuidiú chun plé a dhéanamh ar cé chomh fada agus ní mór dúinn teacht (go háirithe nuair a mheasann tú leamhain!). An páipéar féin (saor ó Zookeys thuas) Is iontach – Leagann sé an-cúramach ar an gcás chun na speicis ar leith agus ba mhaith liom aontú go héasca lena n-conclúidí. An gaire na húdair a fháil chun a rá is é seo an féileacán deireanach a thuairiscítear i SAM Is anseo ag an deireadh leathanach 14 agus ar leathanach 15. An fána Eumaeini na Stát Aontaithe go maith-doiciméadaithe, agus is speicis cur síos san am atá caite 75 blianta a bhí fhéadfaí a rá speiceas cryptic a bhí overlooked mar gheall ar cosúlacht patrún sciathán le speiceas atá ar eolas. … I gcodarsnacht ghéar, beagán níos mó ná 20% an Láir agus Mheiriceá Theas fána eumaeine is undescribed (Robbins 2004b), ach tá an chuid is mó de na speicis undescribed exceedingly annamh i mbailiúcháin mhúsaeim, murab ionann agus M. janevicroy. Tá athrú Measúnú ar na speicis annamha ina bhac ar doiciméadú. Agus mar a casadh sé amach go raibh na línte mar gheall ar an féileacán seo caite ó press release scríofa ag na húdair (preas. comm.). Ach dom fuaimeanna sé cosúil le ribí scoilteadh, tá na féileacáin i ndáiríre go leith? Féileacáin nua á cur síos go fóill ó na Stáit Aontaithe ó charachtair nach bhfuil chomh follasach dath súile, ach is minic go bhfuil difríochtaí móra sna baill ghiniúna – agus is féidir leis na carachtair a bheith go minic i bhfad níos sainiúla ná gné dath a fades in eiseamail leasaithe. Mar sin,, yes, tá sé seo b'fhéidir an speiceas seo caite le fáil a d'fhéadfaí a dúradh seachas i réimse an. Ach más rud ar bith pointí sé ag cé mhéad is gá dúinn eiseamal i mbailiúcháin chun an figiúr amach na rudaí seo sa chéad áit. Na húdair a úsáidtear 88 samplaí de M. janevicroy agus iad i gcomparáid leis na céadta samplaí eile de speicis eile. Dea-rud go bhfuil bailitheoirí ag obair go dian i réimse a fháil mar go leor de na féileacáin agus is féidir (agus go minic ag an am ní a fhios agam go díreach cad atá siad ag teacht). Mar a fhéachann lepidopterists níos dlúithe ar na difríochtaí a scaradh go leor dár speicis níos dhíspeagtha ainmneacha nua a cruthaíodh chun cur síos ar cad a bhí a cheap uair amháin a bheith ar cheann níos mó, fadréimseach, speiceas amháin. Agus ba chóir aon léitheoirí mo bhlag a bheith go maith ar an eolas go leor, go leor speiceas moth go bhfágfar cur síos sna Stáit Aontaithe. Tá a fhios agam ar roinnt athchóirithe atá le teacht go bhfuil dul chun beagnach dhá oiread an méid de theaghlaigh réasúnta mór de leamhain mór agus a bailíodh go maith – gan trácht ar conas dul chun cinn beag atá déanta againn sa microlepidoptera. Meastachán amháin Chuala mé le fios go bhfuil ach amháin 20% de na speicis moth Tortricidae curtha síos! Nuair a athbhreithnithe dian a dhéantar de na grúpaí is lú an líon speiceas pléascadh. Téigh amach agus a bhailiú! Related Comments dúnta.