1 Reply by nmrs

  • nmrs
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  • From: London
  • Registered: 22-11-2006
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Re: Macro-moth Dictionary query - White Spot - 2 species, same vernacular

Hi Charles,

Unfortunately, there are 2 separate species of moth recorded in the UK with the same vernacular, namely the White Spot - Hadena albimacula (Borkhausen, 1792) and Hypagyrtis unipunctata  (Haworth, 1809); the latter is doubtfully British.

One of my colleagues had a problem with the Recorder 6 Report Wizard, wishing to run a report for White Spot H. albimacula. Unless H. albimacula was explicitly selected as the taxa of interest by typing thus and not typing and selecting "White Spot", no records were returned. Typing "hadena albimacula" selected the desired records. Maybe worth trying this to see where I'm coming from.

The former H. albimacula is listed in the NHM dictionary as having no correctly-formed vernacular but the latter does. Is this possibly the reason for the problem and confusion with these 2 species noted above?

I'd be interested in your thoughts and comments here.

Best wishes,

Les Evans-Hill
Senior Data Officer
Butterfly Conservation, Butterflies for the New Millennium and National Moth Recording Scheme

nmrs's Website

2 Reply by CharlesHussey

  • CharlesHussey
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  • From: The Natural History Museum
  • Registered: 11-05-2007
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Re: Macro-moth Dictionary query - White Spot - 2 species, same vernacular

I agree that the current situation is going to lead to confusion and the likelihood of searches on 'White Spot' returning distribution records for both species.

Normally we can distinguish between vernacular homonyms only if they have different ranks or different informal group names. Since both species of 'White Spot' are moths there is currently only one entry in the Dictionary for 'White Spot' (with a Taxon Version Key of NBNSYS0000171789)

So both White-spot and White Spot are mapped to Hadena albimacula (Borkhausen, 1792) and
White Spot is also mapped to Hypagyrtis unipunctata.

To overcome the problem of a search on 'White Spot' returning distribution records for both species, I am going to use the ATTRIBUTE field to differentiate the two usages of the vernacular name

We now have White Spot [Hadena albimacula] NBNSYS0000171789 mapped to Hadena albimacula  and
White Spot [Hypagyrtis unipunctata] NHMSYS0020688821 mapped to Hypagyrtis unipunctata

Best wishes,

Charles Hussey

NBN Species Dictionary Project Manager (Retired!) smile

3 Reply by nmrs

  • nmrs
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  • Registered: 22-11-2006
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Re: Macro-moth Dictionary query - White Spot - 2 species, same vernacular

Hi Charles,

Thanks indeed.

Les.

Les Evans-Hill
Senior Data Officer
Butterfly Conservation, Butterflies for the New Millennium and National Moth Recording Scheme

nmrs's Website