Mead’s butterflies in Colorado, 1871
Date
2016
Authors
Scott, James A., author
James A. Scott, publisher
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Abstract
Theodore L. Mead (1852-1936) visited central Colorado from June to September 1871 to collect butterflies. Considerable effort has been spent trying to determine the identities of the butterflies he collected for his future father-in-law William Henry Edwards, and where he collected them. Brown (1956) tried to deduce his itinerary based on the specimens and the few letters etc. available to him then. Brown (1964-1987) designated lectotypes and neotypes for the names of the butterflies that William Henry Edwards described, including 24 based on Mead's specimens. Brown & Brown (1996) published many later-discovered letters written by Mead describing his travels and collections. Calhoun (2013) purchased Mead's journal and published Mead's brief journal descriptions of his collecting efforts and his travels by stage and horseback and walking, and Calhoun commented on some of the butterflies he collected (especially lectotypes). Calhoun (2015a) published an abbreviated summary of Mead's travels using those improved locations from the journal etc., and detailed the type localities of some of the butterflies named from Mead specimens. Unfortunately, the data published to date is a mess, because bits and pieces were published here and there, but the whole has not been systematically collected and organized and fully analyzed. To organize, all the information from every available source of data was computerized, combined into an organized whole, discrepancies and contradictions were fixed, and that was used to produce several useful products. The current study will form a solid foundation onto which can be added the last major potential improvement: a detailed listing of all the Mead 1871 specimens in museums that contain month and date on the labels.
Description
Includes bibliographical references.
Rights Access
Subject
Papilio. New Series
Butterflies
Lepidoptera