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Date: | Mon, 28 Nov 2022 10:44:30 -0500 |
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Very simply, a name like intermissa or capensis implies a collection of homogeneity states that the bees living in the areas for which such a name is applied do not uniformly express, either morphometrically or biologically. So the traditional view a subspecies or race is based on the recognition of distinct populations, which differ from their neighbours, is put under pressure. Our argument leads us straight to "The Looking-Glass" to find a relief and some perspective.
"I don't rejoice in insects at all", Alice explained .... "But I can tell you the names of some of them."
"Of course they answer to their names?" the Gnat remarked carelessly.
"I never knew them to do it."
"What's the use of their having names," the Gnat said, "if they won't answer to them?"
"No use to them," said Alice; "but it’s useful to the people that name them, I suppose. If not, why do things have names at all?"
source:
H.R. Hepburn. S.E. Radloff. (1998). Honeybees of Africa. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
comment: Are subspecies real? I doubt we will agree on this, but it's quite clear that there is no consensus, since the numbers & names are always changing. "In the current review of all available literature [2020] the existence of 33 subspecies of honey bee," &c.
PLB
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