subspecies

[Chris Carlton]

>Good point. Over a decade ago, I had a graduate student that showed clearly
>that Enceliopsis nudicaulis var. corrugata, a Federally listed species,
>intergrades with var. nudicaulis in southern Nevada. We intentionally held
>off on saying anything about it until after the Nature Conservancy bought
>Ash Meadow, the unique habitat where it lived.
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------
>Curtis Clark                  http://www.csupomona.edu/~jcclark/
>Biological Sciences Department             Voice: (909) 869-4062
>California State Polytechnic University      FAX: (909) 869-4078
>Pomona CA 91768-4032  USA                  jcclark at csupomona.edu

However, this is a double edged sword. A resourceful congressperson of the
appropriate inclination could intercept a lot of the messages in this
thread and use them as evidence of government waste to protect taxa that
the "scientists are not even sure of the existance of". Unfortunately, the
case is much more difficult to explain for "semi-isolated distinct
metapopulations" than it is for "subspecies".


Chris Carlton, Ph.D.
Director, Louisiana State Arthropod Museum
Editor, Coleopterists Bulletin
Department of Entomology
Life Science 402
Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, LA  70808-1710

E-mail: ccarlto at unix1.sncc.lsu.edu
Phone: 225-388-0425 Fax: 225-388-1643
Websites: http://www.agctr.lsu.edu/wwwac/dept/entomology/louisian.htm
(Louisiana State Arthropod Museum) http://www.museum.lsu.edu (Louisiana
Museum of Natural History) http://www.coleopsoc.org/ (Coleopterist Society)