(While I have been reading I haven’t posted in some time, due to a charming and ridiculously lingering aftereffect of dengue known as viral arthritis, which thankfully is now resolving. But it made typing laborious and frustrating so I did it as little as possible. I also wore strange gloves to sleep like a bike messenger on call, so there is that, too.)
Here is the state of affairs: I have posted before that my younger son has some difference that makes him unique and wonderful. It also makes him pose questions for which I am wildly unprepared. Sometimes I direct him to look the answers up. Sometimes I can look the answers up. And then other times, we both have no idea.
Recently he was alarmed by what he called “a big black wasp”. He was reassured when I told him it was, in fact, a Black Soldier Fly and basically should be considered a hero among insects. That was at least two weeks ago.
And then today, seemingly out of the blue (but really just a continuation of the long-ago conversation):
Him: Tell me, are there other militarily titled insects?
Me: Uhhhhh. WAIT. I know one! Blue-eyed Ensign Wasp!
Him: And are there others? Or animalia?
Me:
Me:
Him: sigh
Here is what he is not interested in: creatures named after military people.
As far as I can tell he is interested in the creatures whose common names are military but if there is a scientific name with a rank in there (?) he might go for that.
I appreciate any knowledge anyone might have and share.
(Today is a holiday here, Día de la Revolución, which may be why this is on his mind.)
There’s both a military cone snail (Conus miliaris) and an admiral cone snail (Conus ammiralis). Both belong to a group of sometimes lethally venomous snails. There’s also a red admiral butterfly.
Most of the examples provided here have nothing to do with actual military ranks. Terms like major refer to the opposite of minor rather than a Major. Corporal for most organisms refers to ‘of the body’ rather than the military rank.
It seems like taxonomists aren’t fans of the military.
I would guess that there are many species named after famous individuals in the military. For instance: Napoleonaea is a genus of plants named after Napoleon Bonaparte. Though interestingly, Bonaparte’s Gull is not named after Napoleon, but his nephew who was an ornithologist - go figure.
Surprised nobody’s mentioned the various Admirals and Viceroys (genera Vanessa and Limenitis) in butterflies, or the midshipmen (genus Porichthys) in fish. [edit - I’m not sure if Viceroys are properly military, or political - some have been military commanders.]
The plant genus Galinsoga is commonly called “gallant soldier” in English (apparently an “eggcorn”-type reinterpretation of the scientific name rather than any particular military association).
Interestingly, it is called “Franzosenkraut” (“French weed”) in German, and this name does have a military connection – as an introduced species that began spreading widely around the time of the Napoleonic Wars, the French soldiers were held responsible for having brought it with them as they marched across the German lands.
Hi Lucy, nice to hear of your son :-) Since I am more or less refusing to learn the common names (be it German, English or Spanish) I can’t help much. The admiral butterfly (Vanessa atalanta) was already mentioned.
Thank you all! He liked them all and was very satisfied.
He especially enjoyed the bit about blaming the French for bringing weeds (he is a history buff) and the gendarme (and a historical clothing buff). He also liked the frigatebird which I ought to have remembered. Oh, and the poison snails! He is a snail fan (someone has to be, I guess).
Honestly you cannot at all tell he was ever sick. It is wild to see how fully he bounced back. We all had serotype three, which if I understand correctly means we cannot have that one again but we can have others. (No, thank you.)