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How Butterflies Get Their Names
Have you ever wondered why certain butterflies have such unusual names?
In looking through my field guide, here are a few that seem to defy explanation: Broken Silverdrop, Creole Pearly-Eye, California Sister, Fatal Metalmark, Hoary Elfin, Southern Dogface, Cobweb Skipper, Mexican Eighty-Eight, Painted Lady, Mourning Cloak, Frosted Flasher and Blue-Eyed Sailor. Where do these names come from?
Well, some are named for what the caterpillars eat. For example, the Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus) caterpillar eats the leaves of the Spicebush plant. A Cabbage White (Pierus rapae) eats leaves of the cabbage plant and those in the mustand family.
Some are named for their behavior. For example, the large family of "Skippers" are small and for the most part, nondescript. When in flight, they tend to skip from flower to flower.
Some are named for their appearance. The Painted Lady Vanessa cardui derived its name from ladies of the evening in Victorian times, who painted their cheeks with rouge and their lips with bright lipstick. The undersides of the Painted Lady's wings have bright pink spots that reminded people of these ladies. The Zebra Longwing Heliconius charitonius has elongated wings with zebra-like black and white stripes running across them. The Baltimore Checkerspot Euphydryas phaeton is a beautiful butterfly with orange and black checkered markings, named for Governor George Calvert of Maryland, whose family crest featured the colors orange and black. A Mourning Cloak Nymphalis antiopa has beautiful almost-black wings with a fringe of off-white around the perimeter. It resembles a cloak that may have been worn by someone in mourning. A Monarch Danaus plexippus is so named by the gold ring around the top of its chrysalis, which (to some) looks like a gold crown for royalty. An Eastern Comma Polygonia comma and a Question Mark Polygonia interrogationis have silver spots in those shapes on the undersides of their hind wings.
There are many others with unusual names that can probably be readily explained after doing a little research.
~Submitted by Linda Marchman of Social Butterflies
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