Radical pruning of distribution data may result in loss of knowledge (Response to Larsen & Shirey)

Larsen & Shirey (2020) criticised our analysis of latitudinal changes in butterfly phenology on the grounds of improper data management. We admit some imprecisions, but show that stringent reanalyses did not change the overall results. We also show that unreasonable treatment of data may result in critical information loss. Amending Figure 2 from Larsen & Shirey (2020), refuting the claim that pruning of the data used by Fric et al. (2020) results in different proportions of butterfly phenological patterns (Onset – top, Termination – bottom) responses (Advanced – violet, Stable – grey, Postponed – green) to latitude. “Reanalysis” are new results by us, obtained by following the procedure reported for “Larsen”. It is evident that the results are superficially congruent to “Fric1” and that a mistake had to have happened, either in the phase of calculations or during figure preparation.