Butterfly taxonomy
iNaturalist's policy for butterflies is to follow Pehlam. However, this is just a regional list so its unclear what to do with butterflies from Elsewhere. Worse still it differs from Pehlam and colleagues' All America List hosted on the same website (e.g. Papilio sensu lato vs. Pterourus and papilio sensu stricto).
This observation reveals some of the issues that come from applying regional lists to a global site like iNaturalist.
I recommend we try to find a way to come up with a more globally suitable approach to butterfly taxonomy. I think with some work, we could at least get things sorted to Genus. For example, the
Nymphalidae Systematics Group maintains a global list of Nymphalidae to genus.
Do folks know where we could find analogous global lists the remaining butterfly families to genus?
Skippers (Family Hesperiidae)
Gossamer-winged Butterflies (Family Lycaenidae)
Swallowtails and Parnassians (Family Papilionidae)
Whites, Yellows, and Sulphurs (Family Pieridae)
Metalmark Butterflies (Family Riodinidae)
Any other thoughts on how to do better for Butterfly taxonomy then we're currently doing?
Here's the analysis of top global and regional butterfliers IDers I've been making to kick these taxonomy conversations off (please ignore if butterfly taxonomy is not your thing). You are:
@nlblock, @maractwin, @juancarlosgarciamorales1, @arbutterflynut, @annemirdl, @chrisvanswaay, @sej_hdz, @robberfly, @gancw1, @aguilita, @jakob, @kostaszontanos, @fausto, @martingrimm, @wildnothos, @colin25, @reiner, @vicfazio3, @jon_sullivan, @mako252, @treichard, @greglasley, @big-simonchan, @gancw1, @marcelfinlay, @onildo_marini, @birdernaturalist, @nelson_wisnik
Thanks!
Scott