This paper develops and defends a new functional approach to scientific progress. I begin with a review of the problems of the traditional functional approach. Then I propose a new functional account of scientific progress, in which scientific progress is defined in terms of usefulness of problem-defining and problem-solving. I illustrate and defend my account by applying to the history of genetics. Finally, I highlight the advantages of my new functional approach over the epistemic and semantic approaches and dismiss some potential objections to my approach.

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A New Functional Approach to Scientific Progress

The distributions and affinities of the macrolepidopteran taxa known from south-eastern Polynesia are investigated and contrasted with various geological hypotheses for the origin of the islands. A colonialist interpretation, long distance dispersal into a westering assemblage of small much as seen today, appears to be most probable.

The Biogeography of the Macrolepidoptera of South-Eastern Polynesia

In this work it is presented the first list of Saturniidae, Sphingidae and Geometridae moths (Lepidoptera) of Yaboti Biosphere Reserve and surrounding areas in Misiones province, Argentina. This reserve is one of the largest protected areas of the “Paranaense forest” ecoregion, which while it is the most biodiverse in Argentina, it is also a highly vulnerable ecosystem threatened by extreme fragmentation and degradation caused by human activities. Fieldwork was carried out in eight sites during spring and summer in 2012. The moths were attracted to light traps and collected individually. Species accumulation curves were performed and non-parametric estimators of richness were calculated to assess the completeness of the samples. Saturniidae family was represented by 22 species, with four new records for Argentina: Paradaemonia meridionalis (Arsenurinae), Catacantha ferruginea, Hidripa paranensis and Travassosula subfumata (Hemileucinae). In addition, 21 species of Sphingidae and 40 species of Geometridae were identified with six new records of the latter for Argentina: Opisthoxia corinnaria, O. aurelia, Polla carnipennis and P. ochreicosta (Ennominae), Eois isographata (Larentiinae) and the first record of Racasta (Oenochrominae). The number of species collected in each family represents about 60 % of the total expected in the study area, so an increase in the sampling effort is proposed. In addition, the lack of information on the biology and ecology of most of the species found sustains the need for more research on these aspects.

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Saturniidae, Sphingidae y Geometridae (Lepidoptera) de la reserva de la biósfera Yabotí (Argentina) y sus alrededores

A new species of geometrid moth, Rhopalodes lecorrei sp. nov. is described from French Guiana. The wing pattern, venation, and male and female genitalia of the new species are described, illustrated, and compared to allird species.

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Louis B. Prout

Papers

VIII. On the Geometridae of the Argentine Republic.

Xanthorhoë ferrugata (Clerck) and the Mendelian Hypothesis.

The geometridae of the “st. george” expedition from french oceania