Re: [tied] Re: language and dna

On Pon, travanj 23, 2007 6:08 pm, Daniel J. Milton reče:

> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Mate Kapovic" <mkapovic@...> wrote:
>>
>> I read somewhere that they discovered a language in which there were
> 23 (or something like that) different names for 23 different species
> of butterflies (?) which were identical on first sight but proved
> different by DNA analysis. The problem is I forgot the exact details.
>> Does anybody have a reference and/or details about this case (or
> something similar)?
>>
>> Mate
> ******
> See the February New Scientist story:
> http://tinyurl.com/ywqdez
> Note that it's the larvae (edible?) they have names for. These may
> look more different than the adults. I'll try to find more.
> Dan

"Some of these "unknown" species include so-called cryptic species, in
which one species turns out to be many more. An example of this is the
neotropical skipper butterfly, Astraptes fulgerator, which despite looking
identical, turned out to be 10 distinct species after DNA analysis
(Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol 101, p 14812). The
language of the local Costa Rican tribe where the butterfly is found, has
a different name for the larvae of each of the 10 species, Harrison points
out."

That's what I've been looking for, thanks Dan!

Mate