Does anyone know why butterflies have their own taxonomical category and moths don’t? (By Lepidopterists, not by iNat) Thanks

Current taxonomy uses an approach called cladistics, where organisms are classified based on how closely related they are, and morphology and genetics are only used to discern this family tree. In cladistics, only groups that include an ancestor and all its descendants are considered valid (monophyl…

The next time you get a concussion, take homeopathic Arnica. The next time you get an imbedded splinter that just won’t come out, take homeopathic Silicea. Then speak from your experience. We don’t have to understand how something works to observe that it does have predictable effects on the human…

I’m not a biologist and I wouldn’t want to spark the ‘stamp-collector’ arguments, but one of the great powers of genuine science is to predict things. If you understand the mechanism of Arnica (assuming there is one), you may be able to predict what else it might be useful for, to whom it may be har…

I am so very sorry that you are shocked, I didn’t mean to cause emotional upset. Here are some questions I asked myself in my journey: How does evolution explain instinctive behaviors that go beyond the mental capacity or access to knowledge that the creatures themselves possess? For example, how …

Short answer— Orgel’s second rule: Evolution is cleverer than you are.

True, but many “scientific” investigations begin with observations. Arnica’s benefits (as in herb-infused oil) have been observed for centuries. Using the term “genuine science” shows a bias toward the scientific method and against empirical data, which was the very point of this discussion. Genera…

short answer- the process of evolution is not anthropomorphized, it is not a conscious entity, in simplest terms it is a description of a pattern over time someone with more time can expand upon this

In the politest way, I am biased toward the scientific method for things that affect health, the environment, etc, and I have no issues calling it genuine science in a literal sense. Since it is the most reliable way of getting somewhere towards the truth (the idea of ‘truth’ is also difficult, but …

There’s a difference between being skeptical about homeopathy as a philosophy and rejecting traditional knowledge about the benefits of specific plants or practices. The latter can be tested and verified and in many cases there has been quite a bit of research into the medicinal properties of tradit…

[image] becksnyc: studying nature for features that are so novel, so intriguing as to be applicable to modern product design Simple answer: Because taxa had 3.5 billion years to evolve features to “solve” problems imposed by the environment. The environment constantly puts pressure on the or…

[image] becksnyc: How does evolution explain instinctive behaviors that go beyond the mental capacity or access to knowledge that the creatures themselves possess? For example, how does a termite know how to create a structure that is passively cooled and energy efficient? Did evolution provide …

Why aren't moths given their own ID?

Nature Talk

Topic		Replies	Views
Some moth memes I made Nature Talk fun , silliness	64	4862	June 29, 2022
Please subdivide Lepidoptera (Butterflies & Moths) and create a sub order Lepidoptera (Moths only) General	32	4261	September 14, 2020
Why is inat so inconsistent with paraphyletic groupings that are still useful to have General	42	2326	October 7, 2021
What inaturalist is, versus what it should be Nature Talk	16	918	November 18, 2024
Make crustaceans and myriapods iconic taxa Feature Requests under-review	52	2328	December 26, 2024

Why aren't moths given their own ID?

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