Major Update

[Pete Eeles]

Hi all,

I've almost completed a MAJOR update to UKB - I just need to get the species-specific albums up to date in terms of their names. You can read all about it here:

http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/reports_ ... update.php

Thanks to Guy, Vince and Mark Colvin for answering a plethora of questions over the last couple of weeks!

If you find any bugs, please let me know! I'd also be interested in comments / thoughts - we can discuss them in this thread.

Cheers,

- Pete

[David M]

I thought something had changed. There's a new 'Metalmarks' category at the top of the main page for a start and the graphics all seem to look that bit sharper.

[Pete Eeles]

Indeed - I've tried to keep things (visually) as they were. The most significant change, arguably, is the addition of the following species that are new to the list:

Shy Saliana (Saliana longirostris) has been added as an adventive species.
Illioneus Giant Owl (Caligo illioneus) has been added as an adventive species.
Tamarindi Owlet (Opsiphanes tamarindi) has been added as an adventive species.
Cassia's Owl-butterfly (Opsiphanes cassiae) has been added as an adventive species.
Gray Hairstreak (Strymon melinus) has been added as an adventive species.
Real's Wood White (Leptidea reali) has been added as a questionable species.
Lesser Purple Emperor (Apatura ilia) has been added as a questionable species.
Blue Spot Hairstreak (Satyrium spini) has been added as a questionable species.
Ilex Hairstreak (Satyrium ilicis) has been added as a questionable species.

And albums have been created for all of these, should anyone have images

Cheers,

- Pete

[Pawpawsaurus]

Please excuse my pedantry, but is the newly-published Checklist authoritative? Where a discrepancy exists between it and the NBN Gateway, who is 'correct'?

For example, the latter gives the preferred name for Large Blue as Phengaris arion (although Maculinea arion is also considered to be 'correctly formed') and for Purple Hairstreak it gives Neozephyrus quercus, with the genus Favonius nowhere to be seen.

Are the administrators of the NBNG perhaps unaware of the Checklist, or merely less enthusiastic about keeping their database up to date?

Paul

[Pete Eeles]

Please excuse my pedantry, but is the newly-published Checklist authoritative? Where a discrepancy exists between it and the NBN Gateway, who is 'correct'?

For example, the latter gives the preferred name for Large Blue as Phengaris arion (although Maculinea arion is also considered to be 'correctly formed') and for Purple Hairstreak it gives Neozephyrus quercus, with the genus Favonius nowhere to be seen.

Are the administrators of the NBNG perhaps unaware of the Checklist, or merely less enthusiastic about keeping their database up to date?

Paul

I'm pretty sure that the new checklist is the authority - and Les Hill (from Butterfly Conservation) has already asked about its inclusion in the NBN forums:

http://forums.nbn.org.uk/viewtopic.php?id=5088

Cheers,

- Pete

[Padfield]

It's a very good question!

Where taxa have already been recognised and named, the two highest authorities are obviously the facts (the actual phylogenetic relationships between the taxa) and the rules (as embodied in the ICZN Code). Science being what it is, no human institution can claim authority over the facts, so where these are in doubt the doubt is likely to persist in the taxonomy. Disagreements about application of the rules are arbitrated by the ICZN, I believe (http://iczn.org/).

In the case of Phengaris/Maculinea, neither the facts nor the rules are really in doubt and the correct name is Phengaris. This is the subject of a current arbitration, nevertheless, because some people are arguing for a special exception to retain Maculinea.

I'm not sure about Neozephyrus/Favonius, but this is what Kudrna (2011) has to say:

"NÄSSIG (1995) placed F. quercus in the Far Eastern genus Neozephyrus SIBATINI & ITO, 1942, ignoring its description; he mistakenly regarded Neozephyrus as a senior subjective synonym of Quercusia VERITY, 1943, type-species Papilio quercus LINNAEUS, 1758, which is on taxonomic grounds best treated as a junior subjective synonym of Favonius SIBATINI & ITO, 1942".

Guy