Bright Winter. Anartia amathea, Scarlet Peacock, on Asclepias currasavica, Tropical Milkweed, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
It's Dark Metereological Winter now, and I hurried out to the Butterfly Garden of the Hortus Botanicus. It's small but pretty and warm. This is what I saw this afternoon.
Very bright Anartia amathea; actually, extraordinarily red or crimson for Peacock Butterflies. Perhaps that's the background for the name given in 1819: Anartia. According to some that name derives from the Greek for 'uncommon' on 'incongruous'. it has also been avered that our Scarlet is named for Anartia, a Prince in the Hindu Caste of the children of the Sun. Perhaps... but I would opt rather for the Greek derivation. As for the Amathea: I understand that it's the name for a small satellite of the planet Jupiter that's particularly red. Actually it's spelled 'Amalthea' but it seems great Carolus Linnaeus - or possibly his typesetter - made a typo, leaving out the 'l'.
Bright Winter. Anartia amathea, Scarlet Peacock, on Asclepias currasavica, Tropical Milkweed, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
It's Dark Metereological Winter now, and I hurried out to the Butterfly Garden of the Hortus Botanicus. It's small but pretty and warm. This is what I saw this afternoon.
Very bright Anartia amathea; actually, extraordinarily red or crimson for Peacock Butterflies. Perhaps that's the background for the name given in 1819: Anartia. According to some that name derives from the Greek for 'uncommon' on 'incongruous'. it has also been avered that our Scarlet is named for Anartia, a Prince in the Hindu Caste of the children of the Sun. Perhaps... but I would opt rather for the Greek derivation. As for the Amathea: I understand that it's the name for a small satellite of the planet Jupiter that's particularly red. Actually it's spelled 'Amalthea' but it seems great Carolus Linnaeus - or possibly his typesetter - made a typo, leaving out the 'l'.