Dr. Kunte, Unfortunately there are no rules for giving Common Names to butterflies or any species like the Code for Zoological Nomenclature, so any one can give a common name to a species as one wishes to suit their fancy. Dr. Kunte, if you wish to change from "Darkie" to "Brownie" it does not serve the purpose as " Brownie" too has a racist connotations. I follow Collin Smith for the butterfly names and taxonomy for the north-east and after consulting a good lot of butterfly taxonomists, both national and international, it is clear that Allotinus drumila and Allotinus multistrigatus are conspecific and in this case I have followed Collin Smith ( author of Butterflies of Nepal), who calls it GREAT DARKIE. I follow only those who have established reputation in field of butterfly taxonomy. Please do not impose your " Common Names" unless published in a peer-reveiwed Journal or known publication. Isaac Kehimkar
--- On Sun, 14/12/08, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote: From: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [ButterflyIndia] PHOTOGRAPH OF 2008-GREAT DARKIE To: [email protected] Date: Sunday, 14 December, 2008, 12:19 PM isaac, that's a Crenulate Brownie (Allotinus drumila). this used to be called the Crenulate Darkie (as given in Evans and other books) but i have changed the name to "Brownie" to avoid the racist connotations of "Darkie". your reference to the "Great Darkie" is erroneous on two accounts; the foremost being that that name refers to Evan's Allotinus multistrigatus, which is a junior synonym of A. drumila; and that your butterfly is not multistrigatus even by Evans's standard. the misidentification not withstanding, it is true that this species (i.e., A. drumila) is listed under Schedule I of india's Wildlife (Protection) Act. i photographed this in mizoram last april, so we have two indian records of this rare species within a single year! At 11:09 PM +0530 12/13/08, Isaac Kehimkar wrote: Dear Friends, Got this rare butterfly in Sikkim's Butterfly Park [under construction] at Rangrang. Protected under the Wildlife Protection Act [1972] on Scheule 1, this dainty butterfly enjoys the same status as the Tiger or Elephant.. Usha Lachungpa was there when we almost overlooked this butterfly perched motionless, despite so many BNHS Members flocking to see this rare find. Cheers! Isaac -- Dr. Krushnamegh Kunte Post-doctoral Research Fellow (Kronforst Lab) FAS Center for Systems Biology Harvard University 52 Oxford St Northwest Lab Room 458.40-3 Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. Ph: (617) 496-0078 Cell: (512) 577-1370 Fax: (617) 495-2196 Email: [email protected]. edu or krushnamegh@ gmail.com Academic Website: http://www.people. fas.harvard. edu/~kunte/ AcademicsHome. htm General Website: http://www.people. fas.harvard. edu/~kunte/ index.htm Be the first one to try the new Messenger 9 Beta! Go to http://in.messenger.yahoo.com/win/ --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Enjoy -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
