Subject: Re: Western Moth Guide

From: [email-masked] (Markku Savela)
Date: 3 May 1995 19:35:34 GMT

In article <Pine.SUN.3.91.950503081905.21591A-100000@dante> "David B. Richman" <[email-masked]> writes:

>With moth species being roughly 10 times the number of butterfly and
>skipper species, even a relatively representative coverage of just
>western moths would be difficult enough.

A dream: one could also consider building an electronic reference
"book" using the current WWW concepts.

The amount of work needed would be enormous, maybe even more difficult
than building a book (which at this point is a well known process
compared to electronic version). There would have to be "a project
leader" organization that would be in control of design and
implementation, even if the actual data generation would be
distributed.

I suppose someone would need to get "a grant" for financing
before this becomes even possible. And, if well done, the system could
be international, organizations in different countries providing the
information from their local fauna.
--
Markku Savela ([email-masked]),     Technical Research Centre of Finland
Multimedia Systems, P.O.Box 1203,FIN-02044 VTT,http://www.vtt.fi/tte/staff/msa/

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From: "David B. Richman" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 3 May 1995 08:37:00 -0600

Here is my opinion, for what it is worth.  I am a professional
entomologist at a state university who also is involved in butterfly
counts.  I also curate the Arthropod Museum here.  I would be most
grateful for any book on western moths.  I agree that trying to do the
whole U>S. fauna would result in too large a task and a huge (and
probably very expensive) book.  The western moth fauna has not been well
treated in guides and there is a very real need there.  With moth species
being roughly 10 times the number of butterfly and skipper species, even
a relatively representative coverage of just western moths would be
difficult enough.  As for drawings versus photos, I can agree that for
birds the drawings are better and there may be some argument that
drawings would also be better for moths, especially to show both wing
patterns and resting appearance. However, I well know the difficulties
involved in getting good accurate drawings done!  I would settle for good
photos- perhaps two of as many species as possible- resting and spread.
Also pictures of as many larvae as possible, as these may be the most
often discovered stage of some species (I know of one tortricid that
flies for only a couple of weeks in November and a saturniid that flies
for a similar period in October).

     As I am currently involved in trying to eventually database the
arthropods of Arizona, New Mexico and Trans-Pecos Texas (or just New
Mexico, if that does not work out), I would be willing to pass on any data on
 moths I get in the process that might be
of use.

     In any case I wish you well on the project and will be looking
forward to the ultimate result!!

     David B. Richman
     Dept. of Entomology, Plant Pathology and Weed Science
     New Mexico State University
     Las Cruces, NM 88003

     Ph. (505) 646-3542

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From: Marian Fricano <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 2 May 1995 11:27:45 -0700

I have a book of Western Butterflies that uses a series of photographs
>from  specimen trays.  I found this very helpful, as you get the relative size
differentials, and this can be a great help in IDing similar species.
        It would be most helpful to have either drawings, or photos that show
both the actual way a specimen might be seen in the field, and special field
marks to use for exact identification.
        Actually, I would take anything at this point that focused on Western
moths, and particularly the larval stages!
        So, please keep trying for publication, don't give up!
                [email-masked]