Butterflies of the World - Lifecycle, Ecology, Taxonomy, Conservation, Photography, Butterfly Holidays, Photo Galleries, Book Reviews and more.........
Text and photographs protected by Copyright © Adrian Hoskins 2007, and must not be published in part or in whole elsewhere without prior written permission from the author.
Strange, but true ! PAGE 3           << PREVIOUS | NEXT >>
 

Devious parasites !

 
In South America, 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 oedipus, 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.
 

In a study by Stockholm University, the ocelli of some Peacocks were blanked out with a marker pen. When exposed to blue tits, 13 out of 20 were attacked and eaten. A control group of Peacocks with the ocelli intact fared much better, with only a single butterfly attacked out of a group of 34. It can be concluded that in 97 percent of encounters with blue tits, the ocelli are effective as a deterrent, and the butterfly will escape unharmed.

 
 
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

Get's it's name from the low dancing flight on the forest floor, which has been 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

The name is derived from the eye-like markings on the upper forewings, which appear to "wink" at the observer when the butterfly 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 now been renamed rather 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 skipper species found in the neotropics. In 1997 Austin was apparently so unimpressed with his latest discovery that he gave a "new" Mexican species the unfortunate name 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 :

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, it just came down to numbers, hence : Ophiomyia prima, O. secunda, O. tertia, O. quarta, O. quinta, O. sexta, O. septima, O. octava, O. nona, O. undecima, O. duodecima ( 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 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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Text and photographs protected by Copyright © Adrian Hoskins 2007-2008, and must not be reproduced or published in part or in whole elsewhere in any form without written permission from Adrian Hoskins. Breach of copyright will be pursued by litigation.
 
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