HomeGuideID RequestRecentFrassForumsDonateHelp

Clickable Guide

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Registration is open for the 2024 BugGuide gathering in Idaho July 24-27

Moth submissions from National Moth Week 2023

Photos of insects and people from the 2022 BugGuide gathering in New Mexico, July 20-24

Photos of insects and people from the Spring 2021 gathering in Louisiana, April 28-May 2

Photos of insects and people from the 2019 gathering in Louisiana, July 25-27

Photos of insects and people from the 2018 gathering in Virginia, July 27-29

Previous events

Stenacron mayfly proposal / adjustments to the page

First thank you for taking the time to read this. My name is Mack Beacon. 5 years ago I started a personal study of the genus Stenacron. What I found was there were was so many questions and no true clear answers. This genus is considered taxonomically the most difficult by all standards from the ROM museum collection to the Purdue entomology collection.

This genus has been surrounded in mystery for over a century. There has been an enormous amount of effort into the concept developed by Dr Spieth in 1947, regarding the hybrid concept. I have through intense isolation rearing found that there are no hybrids. Stenacron have a unusual ability to adjust their pigmentational values to their specific substrates on the bottom of the stream. This adjustment or variation is carried into adulthood, as adulthood is a temporary and mere reflection of the larva stage. You can read more on the Stenacron Wiki page I contribute to.

Over the past 5 years I have dissected both larvae and adults of both male and female. By the end of 2015 I had dissected over 800 samples and slide mounted all their anatomy right down to finding new keys to species. Out of this study came the writing of 2 books on the genus Stenacron.

Book 1 is the adults only, and book 2 is just the larva. The detail involved was mesmerizing I was counting and cataloging the teeth on both the maxillae and mandibles alone just to establish form and species concepts in the larva stage. Dr Luke Jacobus and Dr Jeff Webb are very pleased with my work and encourage my publishing the books as field guides which is in the process. I have also volunteered to be involved with any revisionary publications of the genus when that time arrives in the near future.

I have now become an expert editor for the bug guide page but just for the genus Stenacron. I am offering to be the curator of the online collection. Because I am aware of what the future revisions will be what I wish to do is restructure the Stenacron page.

The very first thing that needs to be done is to breakdown the interpunctatum complex. We need to make a valid species page for just (true interpunctatum Say 1839)samples, and then a page for the interpunctatum complex. This is the area of taxonomic confusion within the genus. I will mark all synonymized samples “IE” (Stenacron interpunctatum / canadense). By saying (Stenacron interpunctatum / interpunctatum) that is not defining the form, or giving a proper understanding to each form and or species, and that is how the confusion was created. As we go along I would like to create valid species pages for all of them require it.

To help out if I am allowed to do this I am willing to load my species and form illustrations that are extremely accurate to help each species be visible in both larva and adults. The bug guide is an excellent online resource that is used by anybody from 4 year old children to PhD Doctors. Therefore I feel that it is time to let this genus be seen properly and most important understood. I will be happy to do any in depth diagnosis of all Stenacron samples.

The only difficulty with photo identification is; photo quality, angles, and most importantly focus issues. I identify all samples to form. Without form you have no species. Form will always lead you to a specific species or species concept within reason, as dissection of a sample is the only way to be 100% sure. But I can ID any sample with at least a 95% assurance to form.

Please let me know what you think.
Mack.

Contributed by The Stenonema Rangers of Ontario on 10 January, 2017 - 1:06pm

No, the title of the image

is accepted here as being the intellectual property of the contributor. Titles are not changed by editors unless they are seen to be offensive. You can leave a comment asking the contributor to adjust his or her title but they may choose to change it or not. And we're not certain that would correct the search since the linkage between the image and the word search has already been stored in the software. People just need to understand that search here is just like search on Google. The search returns lots of thing, some you want and some you don't. It is the nature of searches. But getting images placed in the right place is something you can do by leaving comments about where they should be placed. Roger will see those comments and move the images accordingly. Placement in the guide is what is important. Going to the Stenacron page will take you to all the images identified as Stenacron.

… john and jane balaban, 16 January, 2017 - 6:26pm

taxo tree

Got Ya. BTW speaking the taxonomic tree. you guys here follow the Mayfly Central page for validity of species ?

… The Stenonema Rangers of Ontario, 17 January, 2017 - 11:28am

Mack,

Roger didn't say your work was no good or valueless. He has thanked you many times for your comments on BugGuide images. He is simply stating BugGuide policy on our taxonomic tree. We need a paper as reference when we change or adapt the taxonomic tree. Please continue your work and your commentary here. And please do upload the images you referenced earlier with your descriptions and identifications. But know that we won't change the taxonomic tree here at BugGuide until your work is published. That's not something directed at you as an individual, degree or no degree. It's just BugGuide policy.

… john and jane balaban, 11 January, 2017 - 11:55pm

the primary title

when we search under a genus all samples are found by the primary title is my thinking here correct ?

… The Stenonema Rangers of Ontario, 16 January, 2017 - 12:55pm

Not sure we understand the question,

but search here is just like search anywhere. You type something in and get back anything that has that word or words as reference. Then you need to review the results of the search to find something in particular that you want. If you search on 'Stenacron' for example, you will not get back all instances of Stenacron on BugGuide and you might get back a spider or a butterfly if Stenacron has been associated with those images through a remark or comment. If you want to see all the images that have been stored under Stenacron, then go to the genus page and click on Images. But you won't get those Stenacron that have not yet been moved to the genus page.
If this doesn't answer your question, then please try rephrasing it.

… john and jane balaban, 16 January, 2017 - 1:07pm

Yes this does answer the ques

Yes this does answer the question. Is it possible for me to be able to edit the headers that cause the search problem. Example; someone posted and marked in the main header Stenacron ?. Is there any way I can go in alter that search title to help place it in the right place. If that makes sense.

… The Stenonema Rangers of Ontario, 16 January, 2017 - 3:42pm

illustartions

so if i load the illustration images can you lock them so they cannot be saved to any person computer or downloaded ?

… The Stenonema Rangers of Ontario, 12 January, 2017 - 7:59pm

Not that we know of, but post the question

to the Web Site Problems and Suggestions Forum and see what the tech wizards say.

… john and jane balaban, 12 January, 2017 - 9:19pm

I will do that

… The Stenonema Rangers of Ontario, 12 January, 2017 - 12:05am

What I Think

Hi Mack-

In all due respect, until such time as your proposals have been published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, there is no reason make any changes to the taxonomy of BugGuide, other than to add a guide page to house a photo submission, when one does not already exist, and I will do that whenever appropriate.

Best regards,

… Roger Rohrbeck, 11 January, 2017 - 6:10am

Hi Roger There is no need

Hi Roger

There is no need for any taxonomy changes to be made at this time or anytime soon either here or in any scientific literature. Yes DNA clearly states changes are needed but not now at this time. Creating clarification of an extremely misunderstood complex by creating an interpunctatum complex that is currently valid is needed to allow a clearer picture of (TRUE interpunctaum SAY). If i was asking for taxonomic changes i would be discussing a new species page for heterotarsale because DNA according to Jeff should be a valid, and will be a valid species concept in the next revision.

Below is an online article about the value of peer-review

Good Science without Peer-Review including Darwin and Einstein

Some of the most important and groundbreaking work in the history of science first appeared in published form not in peer-reviewed scientific journal articles but in scientific books. That includes Copernicus' De Revolutionibus and Newton's Principia. Einstein's original paper on relativity was published in a scientific journal (Annalen der Physik), but did not undergo formal peer-review.1 Indeed, Darwin's own theory of evolution was first published in a book for a general and scientific audience -- his Origin of Species -- not in a peer-reviewed paper.

Peer- review does not create or insure that the work is correct. I can point to a peer-review approved paper with massive inaccuracies to this genus by McCafferty himself.

Mack.

… The Stenonema Rangers of Ontario, 11 January, 2017 - 5:43pm

Peer Review

Hi Mack-

Although no process can 100% insure work is correct, peer review obviously helps to reduce sloppy work product.

… Roger Rohrbeck, 11 January, 2017 - 8:51pm

it all come down to CASH my friend.

(That is what it can do). The real truth and the problem we face is there isn't the tens of millions of dollars available for research anymore. That is the beauty of having an overly interested independent do the heavy lifting like I did. The work I did goes far beyond taxonomics.

I even tested the male larva and adults eyesight as far as attraction to hues of orange to see if they were more responsive to one over the other, and they are. The males are aided in picking females by the color of their abdomens. I even tested the psychological dispositions as far as anxiety and the larva do suffer high stress and anxiety under certain conditions.

Did you know in the larva stage that they are highly social and show signs of face to face communications in non foraging times. Sadly we now live in a world where even THOMAS SAY a self taught taxonomist and the GODFATHER of American entomology would also be a outcast because like me he lacks a degree. Soon we will need a degree to pay taxes and walk on a sidewalk. Sadly because some people like to overburden the development process it makes trying to help very un worthwhile and somewhat a waste of time.

It was me and me only that felt this so poorly misunderstood genus just needed someone like me to care enough to stand up for the forgotten the underdog and try to let the world understand them for once. "science" that you so glorify so much are the ones that screwed this all up. But when it comes to i really did it because i loved every second of it.

I am coming to believe that science the ones that screwed the genus up should just learn to fix it themselves if they can even understand now. I averaged nearly 112 hours a week for 5 years on this project, and now i personally believe that science and the rest of the crazy degree world should never see my work i don't think you have earned that right. I am the master the and maker and i am allowed to be the destroyer of my own creation that you say has no value because I don't fit into your PEER-REVIEW column.

Enjoy !!!

… The Stenonema Rangers of Ontario, 11 January, 2017 - 11:16pm

OK, moved 8 or 10 images

as a sample to see if they are going where you want. Is your plan to have a separate page for each of the interpuctatum / **** identities?
If so, we can make those pages, but we need to know what to call them and whether they are subcategories under the complex page or under the species page itself. We can also copy the text out of your comments into the identification tab on the individual Info pages.

… john and jane balaban, 10 January, 2017 - 1:52pm

also i need to add

Sorry when i provided the list of forms for the interpunctatum complex i was thinking about the DNA clusters in the complex. There are 3 other forms to add to the complex they are; heterotarsale, affine, aerion. We do also have a need to erect 2 valid species; floridense, and pallidum as we have samples of each species on this site.

… The Stenonema Rangers of Ontario, 10 January, 2017 - 3:00pm

That is very ideal but you ca

That is very ideal but you can just make a complex, and i will comment them to their forms

… The Stenonema Rangers of Ontario, 10 January, 2017 - 1:58pm

The interpunctatum page already says

interpunctatum Say 1839 on the Info page. We will make the new species page and move the two images referenced. You can just leave comments on other images and we can follow your trail of comments. What other species are in the interpunctatum complex?

… john and jane balaban, 10 January, 2017 - 1:41pm

the interpunctaum complex

the complex does not have valid species only forms and they are; ohioense, canadense, majus, conjunctum, frontale, and proximum. They were are synonymized unjustified by Dr Spieth 1947 according to Lewis 1974 and i and other agree with Lewis.

… The Stenonema Rangers of Ontario, 10 January, 2017 - 1:55pm

Right now we have three species pages

Genus Stenacron
Species candidum - Stenacron candidum
Species carolina - Stenacron carolina
Species interpunctatum - Stenacron interpunctatum

If we understand you correctly, you would like an interpunctatum complex page added. We will do that. If you need other pages added, simply list those. If you need images moved, just let us know that also. If you need text added to info pages, just specify the text. It will be easier for all if you put these in individual short comments rather than saving them up into one giant comment. It is too difficult to tweeze out exactly what to do when there is too much information. Thanks. Excited about the help with this challenging group.

For example: what do you see happening to these images

Looks like we need a page for gildersleevei too?

… john and jane balaban, 10 January, 2017 - 1:17pm

Your response

Thank you for your response. Yes we need to for now just make a (interpunctatum complex). And mark the valid species interpunctatum as (interpunctatum Say 1839). That clarifies a sample as true to original form concept by Thomas Say. I am new to this moving stuff around so how do i do that or contact you to have that done. There are tons of adjustments that will need to be made over time. If you look at my photo contributions you can see how mine are titled. I will need to retitle most samples on the page.

Yes gildersleevei needs a page as i entered the very first samples of that genus to the page. Actually they are the very first photos of the species.

The other two of mine here are to be placed in the interpunctatum complex.

Mack.

… The Stenonema Rangers of Ontario, 10 January, 2017 - 1:33pm

Disclaimer: Dedicated naturalists volunteer their time and resources here to provide this service. We strive to provide accurate information, but we are mostly just amateurs attempting to make sense of a diverse natural world. If you need expert professional advice, contact your local extension office.

Contributors own the copyright to and are solely responsible for contributed content.
Click the contributor's name for licensing and usage information.
Everything else copyright © 2003-2024 Iowa State University, unless otherwise noted.

Bugguide is hosted by:

Printer Friendly Version