Fwd: RE: multicaudata vs multicaudatus
Chris J. Durden
drdn at mail.utexas.edu
Thu Apr 26 11:38:47 EDT 2001
Michael,
If you really want to use a common name for *Pterourus multicadata* the
oldest is Xochiquetzalpapalotl, which as one of the earthly manifestations
of a deity, should not be taken lightly. This butterfly was known to the
inhabitants of Teotihuacan in Mexico, who depicted both adult and pupa in
painted clay effigies. The species ranges from Alberta to Guatemala and
from Central Texas to California with several poorly known subspecies. The
individuals with longest forewing that I have found so far are from Travis
Co. TX. These are the largest butterflies found north of the Mexico where
they are exceeded only by *Caligo* species.
Xochiquetzalpapalotl = flower-feathered-serpent-butterfly (from Nahuatl)
Pterourus multicadata = wing-that-glows-with-passion, the many-tailed
(from Latin)
...................Chris Durden
At 08:31 AM 4/26/2001 -0400, you wrote:
>If you don't like common names go to 2.
>
>1. The example below shows why the common names of species should be
>treated as proper nouns and capitalized since (style manuals
>notwithstanding) they refer to unique entities.
>
>Use in a sentence: There flies a multi-tailed butterfly".
>
>Does that refer to one of many butterflies which happen to have more
>than one tail, or to a member of a single species (Papilio
>multicaudatus, the Multi-tailed Butterfly).
>
>
>
> At last some concrete information that leaves us with two
>possibilities -
> >*Papilio multicaudata* - "butterfly, the multi-tailed"
> >*Papilio multicaudatus* - "the multi-tailed butterfly"
>
>CONCLUSIONS: Species as unique entities are proper nouns and ought to be
>capitlized to avoid confusion. Try for example, the little metalmark.
>
>If I keep this up I will make a case for not using common names.
>
>2. Bye
>
>
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