www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Either i am going completely mad or there is no Small Blue in my copy of the Collins Butterfly Guide, anyone know why? .............Just re-checked and it still aint there. Steve

Hi Steve,

I could be wrong, but on page 108 there is a "Little Blue" that we are meant to get here in England, so I presume that this must be "Small Blue"

Denise

Yep - "Cupido minimus" it is - Small Blue!

The safest bet is to always use the scientific name and, even then, to only rely on the species name, and not the genus!

Cheers,

- Pete

Yes Pete,
That makes sense. It's like learning a whole new language

Denise

Pete Eeles wrote:The safest bet is to always use the scientific name and, even then, to only rely on the species name, and not the genus!

Does the genus Abrostola ring a bell?

Nope.

Yours, in ignorance, Pete

Oh well.

There used to be two species called A. triplasia and A. trigemina. Then something happened and they are now called A. tripartita and A. triplasia - in the same order. When somebody reports seeing A. triplasia there's no telling which one it actually is. The person may go from memory or be using old books...

Most people I know refer to buterflies just by their specific name. It's short, easy, universal (important on the continent) and has just as familiar a feel. A lot of the English names of European butterflies were simply invented on the spot by Higgins & Riley because they felt a book for the general public needed common names - so they don't have any real history or authority. That's not true of the names of British butterflies, of course.

The biggest problem is pronouncing the names! Zoological Latin is pronounced in English quite differently from any form of real Latin or any other European language!! Pete has included sound files of suggested pronunciations of each species on this site and these are very good.

On which point, why do they always pronounce C. difficile on the television and radio as if it were French? It should rhyme with 'smiley'.

Guy

JKT wrote:Oh well.

There used to be two species called A. triplasia and A. trigemina. Then something happened and they are now called A. tripartita and A. triplasia - in the same order. When somebody reports seeing A. triplasia there's no telling which one it actually is. The person may go from memory or be using old books...

The rules of precedence do sometimes give daft results like this. Perhaps the daftest is the manx shearwater, whose Latin name is Puffinus puffinus, owing to some mix up with nestlings!

Guy