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Strange but true
!
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3 of 4
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Devious
parasites !
In Peru, the eggs of
Caligo Owl butterflies are
parasitised by tiny Trichogrammatid wasps that ride from place to
place on the hindwings of the butterflies. They only leave the
female's wings when she lays eggs, and then immediately return, to
be transported by the butterfly to the next egg laying site.
Owl butterfly
Caligo teucer, Peru
Scary eyes to frighten birds !
Many butterflies, such as the Peacock
Inachis io are marked with conspicuous ocelli
( false eyes ) which can scare off a predator, or at least deter
it long enough for the butterfly to make it's escape. The ocelli
make the butterfly appear larger and "scarier" to predators, and
in many cases have the effect of simulating the face of a small
mammal or reptile.
Peacock
Inachis io, male, Broughton Down, Hampshire
Butterflies with
strange names !
The popular names given to
butterflies are often fascinating. Here are a few of my favourites
:
|
Shower of Gold |
Argyrogrammana
stilbe |
Trinidad |
A tiny golden
Riodinid which frolics in small groups in late afternoon
sunshine in hillside forests. |
|
Golden Lady
Slipper |
Pierella hyceta |
Peru |
The name is derived from it's low dancing flight on the forest floor, likened to the movements of a ballroom dancer's feet. |
|
White-spotted
Tadpole |
Syrmatia lamia |
Brazil |
A
miniscule black Riodinid with long tadpole-like tails on
the hindwings. It only flies on cold dull days. |
|
Maiden's Blush |
Cyclophora punctaria |
England |
This is a pretty little
geometrid moth whose flesh-coloured wings are adorned with
golden-brown "freckles" and a pink blush. |
|
Noble
Nightfighter |
Zophopetes
nobilior |
Kenya |
A night-flying
skipper with a loud humming flight. Often attracted to
house-lights in Africa. |
|
Glad-eye Bush
Brown |
Nissanga patnia |
Sri Lanka |
A butterfly with eye-like markings on the forewings that
appear to "wink" at the observer when it flicks
open it's wings. |
The Charismatic Metalmarks
Taxonomists are not usually renowned for having a great sense of
humour, but amongst their more hilarious moments they have managed
to provide us with a few amusing scientific names. Hence we have a
pair of metalmarks from Colombia, named by Hall and Harvey in 2002
as
Charis ma and
Charis matic ! Both have since been
renamed less attractively as
Detritivora ma and
Detritivora matic. The new genus
name refers to the fact that the caterpillars feed on decaying
leaves and other detritus on the forest floor.
The Mediocre
Skipper !
It must be difficult to think
up names for some of the more mundane looking species,
particularly for the hundreds of near-identical dull brown skippers found in the neotropics. In 1997 Austin was apparently so
unimpressed with one Mexican discovery that he gave it the unfortunate name
of Inglorius
mediocris, which needs little translation !
More
"creative" scientific names...
The taxonomist Burns was
clearly having a mental block when it came to naming his new
skipper - Cephise nuspesez (
pronounced "new species" ) !
Just to prove that weird humour
is not confined to butterfly taxonomists ( ! ), here are some of
the equally odd scientific names given to other creatures - these
are genuine species names !
|
Abra cadabra |
a species of clam ( with magical
properties ? ) |
|
Agra vation |
an "aggravating" carabid beetle |
|
Cyclocephala nodanotherwon |
a species of scarab beetle ( not
another one ! ) |
|
Heerz lukenatcha |
a species of braconid wasp : ( here's
lookin' at ya ! ) |
|
Kamera lens |
a protozoan, presumably shaped like a
camera lens ! |
|
Pulchrapollia |
an extinct parrot, translates as
"pretty polly" |
The
above show both creativity and humour, but in 1969 when Spencer
had the task of inventing names for new flies he just named them
in numerical order, hence :
Ophiomyia prima, O.
secunda, O. tertia, O. quarta, O. quinta, O. sexta, O. septima
( Latin for
"first", "second", "third", etc. ).
They don't always get
away with it though. Common sense prevailed when Dybowski proposed
the name
Gammaracanthuskytodermogammarus loricatobaicalensis
for a new Amphipod
in 1927. It would have been the world's longest scientific name,
but was rejected as unpronounceable by the International
Commission for Zoological Nomenclature !
The honour of having the longest scientific name approved by the
ICZN actually goes to a species of Stratiomyid fly -
Parastratiosphecomyia stratiosphecomyioides,
while the shortest appears to be that of a Vespertilionid bat -
Ia io, although there is a thrip with a single-letter
species name - Plesiothrips o.
Click here for a further
selection of strangely named butterflies.
For more fascinating scientific
names, visit :
Earthlink Taxonomic Puns
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