What's in a Name. Myathropa florea, Batman or Deathhead Hoverfly, on Hoary Alyssum, Berteroa incana, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Don't be misled! On the internet you'll often find 'Myanthropa' instead of the correct 'Myathropa'. For the derivation see my earlier www.flickr.com/photos/87453322@N00/28918797485/in/photost....
In the photo Batman is voraciously plumbing the depths of Hoary Alyssum, Berteroa incana. Berteroa was named for Carlo Giuseppe Luigi Bertero (1789-1831) in 1818. The famous botanist Augustin Pyramus de Candolle (1779-1841) waxes eloquent on the merits of Bertero for the botany of Piedmont and remarks that he is now on a voyage of discovey in Central America. Indeed! Bertero was in the West Indies 1816-1821; and later he worked in Mexico and Chile. Always extending his horizons he set sail from Chile to Tahiti, collected there but on his planned return to Valparaiso aboard a new schooner with his entire collection in 1831 he was sadly lost to science in a presumed shipwreck.
What's in a Name. Myathropa florea, Batman or Deathhead Hoverfly, on Hoary Alyssum, Berteroa incana, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Don't be misled! On the internet you'll often find 'Myanthropa' instead of the correct 'Myathropa'. For the derivation see my earlier www.flickr.com/photos/87453322@N00/28918797485/in/photost....
In the photo Batman is voraciously plumbing the depths of Hoary Alyssum, Berteroa incana. Berteroa was named for Carlo Giuseppe Luigi Bertero (1789-1831) in 1818. The famous botanist Augustin Pyramus de Candolle (1779-1841) waxes eloquent on the merits of Bertero for the botany of Piedmont and remarks that he is now on a voyage of discovey in Central America. Indeed! Bertero was in the West Indies 1816-1821; and later he worked in Mexico and Chile. Always extending his horizons he set sail from Chile to Tahiti, collected there but on his planned return to Valparaiso aboard a new schooner with his entire collection in 1831 he was sadly lost to science in a presumed shipwreck.