Subject: Parnassius phoebus and other 'strange' Americans

From: Fernley Symons <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 25 Nov 1996 20:23:59 +0000

[Apologies to those on the list who have already received a similar message]

I have noticed a number of interesting anomalies in my study of the
geographical ranges of North American butterflies. For this work I used the
maps in James Scott's 1986 guide. One statistical outlier here is the genus
_Parnassius_. I suspect the anomaly here is due to faulty taxonomy rather
than some more interesting biological peculiarity.

In the recent book by Tyler, Brown and Wilson [1994 - 'Swallowtail
Butterflies of the Americas'] the authors mention a paper by Shepard,
Shepard and Manley which they say is in press [i. e. as of 1994]. The
latter authors apparently split North American _Parnassius phoebus_ into 3
species. Unfortunately, the swallowtails book does not give the reference
in full, and it not clear precisely which of the _P. phoebus_ subspecies
were awarded to which of the new species [which were _P. smintheus_ & _P.
behrii_]. Any comments on this split and the paper where it is given would
be gratefully received.

I have come across several other outliers in my analyses, namely the genera

Problema
Thorybes
Papilio
Neonympha
Oeneis
Pyrgus
Erebia
Colias
Pholisora
Parnassius
Lethe
Boloria
Feniseca
Fixsenia
Euchloe
Autochton
Chlosyne
Euptoieta
Plebejus
Anteos
Pieris
Eunica
Precis
Strymon

and the following higher taxa:

Papilionids, satyrines, Coliadinae, pierines

In most cases I can explain the 'abnormal' positioning of these on the
basis of poor taxonomy, poor range delineation [e.g. for highly migratory
species] or hybridisation between taxa [e.g. between species in the genus
_Colias_].

I would like to narrow things down and identify which particular species
are behaving oddly if at all possible. I would therefore be very interested
in any recent references regarding the above [especially taxonomic
revisions etc]. I'd also welcome comments about Scott's maps for these
species and any other information which I could use to understand what
makes these strange Americans.

Many thanks for any help you can give

Fernley Symons

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Fernley Symons

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