xu. AGATHIA·CHLORODO[\JTOPERA 9. NEWS l~~ERI~,\ ... OF THE ........ ~ t)/() ~ LEPIDOPTERISTS' ~j SOCIETY ~8T.1941 Contents Volume 42, No.4 Winter 2000 The Lepidopterists' Society is a non-profit Presidential Commentary: The Value of Lepidoptera. educational and scientific organization. The Robert K. Robbins 92 object of the Society, which was formed in Seitz' Macrolepidoptera of the World: Perspectives May 1947 and formally constituted in De­ from a Taxonomist and a Publisher. cember 1950, is "to promote internationally R ichard S. Piegler & Eric W Classey 93 the science of lepidopterology in all its Monarch Experts Gather in New York: Sound Alarm on branches; to further the scientifically sound and progressive study of Lepidoptera, to is­ Monarch Situation in Mexico. Kurt Johnson 96 sue periodicals and other publications on Metamorphosis 97 Lepidoptera; to facilitate the exchange of Membership Update. Julian Donahue 97 specimens and ideas byboth the professional The Lepidopterists' Bookshelf. M. Alma Solis 98 worker and the amateurin the field;to com­ Recently Published Books 98 pile and distribute information to other or­ For Children of All Ages 99 ganizations and individuals for purposes of Announcement: Macromoths of NW Forests and Woodlands 99 education and conservation and appreciation More Photos from LepSoc 2000 100 of Lepidoptera; and to secure cooperation in Karner Blue Update: Court Rules Against KB. Kurt Johnson 101 all measures" directed towards these aims. Programs at the Harvard Museum. Kurt Johnson 101 (Article II, Constitution of The Lepidopter­ Out of the Net Jim Taylor 104 ists' Society.) From the Editor's Desk. Phil Schappert 105 The News oftheLepidopterists' Society The Marketplace 106 (ISSN 0091-1348) is published quarterly by Observation of Orange-barred Giant Sulphur, The Lepidopterists' Society,c/o Los Angeles Phoebis philea, in Indiana. Ernest M. Shull 109 CountyMuseum of Natural History, 900 Ex­ Basic Techniques Manual available 109 position Blvd.,Los Angeles, CA90007-4057, USA., and includes one or two supplements Backpages: each year. The Season Summary is pub­ Membership Information, Dues Rates, Journal of the lished every year as Supplement S1 and is Lepidopterists' Society, Change of Address?, Our Mailing mailed with issue 1ofthe News.Ineven num­ List?, Missed or Defective Issue?, Book Reviews, beredyears a completeMembershipDirec­ Submission Guidelines for the News 110 tory is publ ished as Supplement S2 and is Executive Council 111 mailed with issue 4 of that volume of the Season Summary Zone Coordinators 111 News. Please see the inside back coverfor in­ structions regarding subscriptions, submis­ Issue Date: November 15, 2000 ISSN 0091-1348 sions to, and deadline dates for, the News. Reminder... PeriodicalsPostage Pending at address above (Los Angeles, CA) and at additional mailing office (Lawrence, KS). 2001 Annual Meeting ofthe Lepidopterists' Society POSTMASTER: Please send address To be held July 26-29, 2001 at Oregon State University, Corvalis, Oregon. changes to News of the Lepidopterists' Commercial shuttles will be available from Portland and Eugene to Corvalis. A Society, c/o Los Angeles County Museum symposium on classic field sites is contemplated. Please plan now to attend. See of NaturalHistory, 900 Exposition Blvd.,Los www.furman.edu/-snyder/snyder/lep/ for more information. Registration Angeles, CA90007-4057. forms and a call for papers will be published in the next issue of the News. Copyright © 2000 by The Lepidopterists' So­ ciety.All rights reserved. The statements of contributors do not necessarily represent the Cover: Plate 9 of Volume 12 of Seitz's Macrolepidoptera of the World, views of the Society or the editor and the showing some Indo-Australian Geometridae. See the article by Peigler and Society does not warrant or endorse prod­ Classey beginning on pp. 93 of this issue. ucts or services of advertisers. Autumn 2000 News of the Lepidopterists' Society Mailbag••• Antibiotics Debate Rages••• causes of resistant bacteria. Most lepidopterists are intelligent and Dear Editor, responsible-instead of condemning ATruly "Odd Couple"••• Mr. Mel Lynn condemns the use of the and trying to forbid fellow lepidopterists antibiotic Cipro for use by from rearing valuable larvae with Dear Editor, lepidopterists. He is alarmed that their medication, he should vent his energies I take the liberty of offering you the friends, or at least mine, will become elsewhere. enclosed slide documenting an endangered from drug resistant I received a thoughtful letter from Mr. attempted extraspecific copulation. bacteria (News 42(3): 70, Autumn Karl Ploran who states that a drug It shows a male fiery skipper, Hylephila 2000). What a stretch. He said he will similar to Cipro is available from phyleus, trying to copulate with a not speculate as to how I obtained this veterinarians. This drug, Baytril female of an orange skipperling, drug but through insidious inuendo he (enroflaxacin) is less pricey than the Copaeodes aurantiacus. The photo was attempted to debase my integrity. I shall former and is used on pets and other taken in the Botanical Garden in tell him. Select one of the following: a) animals. Check it out. Tucson, Arizona on August 10, 1999 . an armed holdup of a drugstore; b) a nighttime break-in of a dispensary; c) Robert Weast George O. Krizek, M.D. a street purchase from a drug pusher; 5324 NW 78th Court, 2111 Bancroft Place, NW or d) a doctor issued a bona fide Johnson,IA50131 Washington, DC 20008 prescription when informed of its intended use. Seriously, there is a grave, ever-present and ongoing problem with new, resistant strains of bacteria produced through the misuse of medication, but treating larvae in one's backyard pales to the big picture. This is akin to comparing a gnat to an elephant. Consider, for example, the medical profession. Because of patient compliance-the demand of the patients-doctors prescribe drugs for every sniffle and discomfiture. This, and the poor judgement of some users who stop taking the full number of dosages of medication once they "feel better" are two, among others, causes that can lead to drug resistant bacteria. The total number of such incidents probably occurs thousands of times each day in the United States alone, to say nothing of the world. Mr. Lynn should develop a sense of perspective and direct his ire at real Volume 42, Number 3 91 News of the Lepidopterists' Society Volume 42, Number 3 Presidential Commentary The Value of Lepidoptera Robert K. Robbins Department ofEntomology, NHB 127, NMNH, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560-0127 The Lepidopterists' Society and its understood. The central theme of for collecting is your responsi­ members have been buffeted by changes conservation efforts over the past three bility. A Society committee headed by in the "collecting climate" over the past decades has arguably been that Eric Metzler communicated this point decade. Going out on a weekend to a butterflies and moths and all other to members in 1996 in their revised favorite spot and collecting butterflies living species have value and that this Society Collecting Guidelines. These as a casual hobby has become value needs to be generally appreciated guidelines contain much wisdom, and increasingly difficult and frustrating. if we are to have any hope of stemming you might want to re-read them when Whereas once a collecting permit was the destruction of natural habitats. they arrive again inside the membership needed only in national parks, now they Financial value is probably the easiest list later this year. are widely required, and obtaining them way to convince the public at large that Another consequence of the changing may be costly and difficult, sometimes the natural world has value. regulatory climate is that laws in some even impossible. Whereas export Accordingly, we hear repeatedly about situations do not make sense. For permits for dead insects were virtually the benefits of ecotourism, the wealth example, many butterflies and moths unheard of, they are now de rigueur, of genetic information contained in the collected by U.S. citizens in the 1980s­ and more forms have to be filled out cells of the millions of rain forest before the ramifications of the Lacey upon arrival in your home country. species, pollination, and the main­ Act were widely understood-eould not And from the Amazon Basin to the tenance of soil fertility and watershed be deposited in museums without the United States and Europe, specimens quality. And governments are beginning museum being liable to prosecution. have been confiscated and "poachers" to pay attention, as indicated by the Society representative to the Associa­ have been arrested and convicted. All Convention on Biological Diversity. tion of Systematic Collections, Jackie in all, these changes are frustrating There is also the Global Taxonomy Miller, worked long and hard to and counter-productive and hard to Initiative, Diversitas, Species 2000, negotiate an amnesty with the U.S. understand. BioNet International, and many other Department of Fish and Wildlife to Most of us have known since we were global initiatives intending to make allow specimens collected before May youngsters that butterflies and moths biological information about the 1991 to be deposited legally in have value. These insects fill us with a natural world readily available to museums. sense of awe, excitement, and passion governments, conservation organiza­ A final consequence of the changing that enriches our lives. It is a primary tions, and others. Governments are regulatory climate is a culture clash reason that we band together in the beginning to listen, and although an between Society members and govern­ Lepidopterists' Society. But one does oversimplification, the immediate ment bureaucrats throughout the not have to be very old to realize that reaction of governments is to world. By and large, Society members many folks have not, and do not, feel regulate this financially valuable are interested in regulations that best that Lepidoptera-or any other insects natural resource.