Dear Usha, I think it is a good idea to publish these sightings in a scientific paper, and I can help Sanjyog and Karma Dorjee with this. I have written a more detailed email to the three of you, please check it out.
Peter is mistaken about scientific publishing and about credits, and his suggestion about unpublishing and publishing the pictures on the BOI website is also quite unnecessary. The photos on the BOI website (or on Facebook where they were first posted) do not affect anything else that Sanjyog and Karma Dorjee want to do next. Anyway, I have offered more about this in my email to the three of you. With best wishes, Krushnamegh. ________________________________ From: usha lachungpa <[email protected]> Date: Sun, 31 Jul 2011 04:52:45 -0400 To: Krushnamegh Kunte <[email protected]> Cc: butterflyindia <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, kdgyatsov19 <[email protected]> Conversation: Bhutan Treebrown (Lethe margaritae) Subject: Re: Bhutan Treebrown (Lethe margaritae) Dear Krushnamegh, This is indeed exciting. We have been following this on FB eagerly. You certainly seem to have started it with your Scarce Jester!! First the rare Hockeystick Sailer and now Bhutan Treebrown, an endemic Sch-1 species with range extension in North Sikkim by young local vets. Since the newly formed Butterflies and Moths of Sikkim (BAMOS) Facebook Egroup by Karma Dorjee and Sanjyog, progress has been tremendous due to support of Lepidoptera experts and amateurs from all over. Your meeting them through Sikkim Ornithological Society (SOS) in Gangtok during your last visit for the ATREE funded Sikkim butterfly project was a big opportunity. They are both thrilled to see their butterflies have featured on 'IFoundButterflies'. Your help in first publication of both Karma's Hockeystick Sailer and Sanjyog's Bhutan Treebrown would be a boost to these budding scientists to become authors. I learn from both Karma and Sanjyog that they are very keen as this would be a first for them. Karma got his BVSc this month itself, Sanjyog just a few years ago and presently with ICAR! This would be big for their CVs and ensure their continued interest in biodiversity conservation in Sikkim where development is fast overtaking conservation in many areas due to lack of information, and more important, lack of local involvement & initiative. I have a starter/beginner article attached which may help but definitely needs your input. Can you suggest where their article could be published as a titled paper in recognized journal? Also, I request you to add both Karma and Sanjyog's names as co-authors in the relevant citations on IFB since at the moment they are of course photo-credited but it looks like a discovery of IFB and not them. Please don't get me wrong, but am sure you agree that it would certainly help them. Peter Smetacek seems to have found the way forward and I copy below his comment to Sanjyog and Gaurav on the Bhutan Treebrown thread, which you might not be aware of (and this would probably also hold for Karma's Hockeystick Sailer): Peter Smetacek <http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1642953000> : Sanjyog and Gaurav, sorry for interfering in what is essentially a matter between you two and IFB, but I was thinking about this matter- somehow it does not seem right that Sanjyog should not be able to claim credit for his discovery in a proper paper in a scientific journal. If I were Sanjyog, I would ask Gaurav to unpublish the page, then do up a proper paper and send it to a scientific journal of his choice. After it is published in the journal, Gaurav can re-publish the page on IFB. That way, the discovery would get proper expression and Sanjyog can have a scientific paper on his CV. This sound so right and feasible so I look forward to your comments eagerly. Kind regards, Usha On Sat, Jul 30, 2011 at 1:15 PM, Kunte, Krushnamegh <[email protected]> wrote: Hi all, I am passing on news of a very exciting recent discovery by Sanjyog Rai of the Bhutan Treebrown (Lethe margaritae) in North Sikkim: http://ifoundbutterflies.org/441-lethe/lethe-margaritae This species is very rare and is legally protected in India under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act. I do not recall seeing any other pictures of this species, or even any other recent sightings. I will be interested in hearing from other people if they have seen/photographed this species. Usha, this is a fantastic sighting, another rare species seen in Sikkim once again. I thought you would be interested to know. With best wishes, Krushnamegh. ------------------------------------------------- Krushnamegh Kunte, PhD Post-doctoral Research Fellow 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] <http://[email protected]> Other emails: [email protected] <http://[email protected]> , [email protected] <http://[email protected]> Personal website: http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~kunte/index.htm <http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/%7Ekunte/index.htm> Indian Foundation for Butterflies: http://ifoundbutterflies.org/ Google profile: http://www.google.com/profiles/krushnamegh -- Usha Ganguli-Lachungpa Prin. Research Officer Dept. of Forest, Env. & WL Mgmt. Govt. of Sikkim Forest Secretariat Annexe Bldg Deorali, Gangtok 737102 Tel/Cell: 03592-280402; 094340-25273 [email protected] -- Enjoy
