Well in French « retard » means “late,” same with the original etymology of the word, so I’d assume it may mean the moth is.. late in some way??? Or perhaps those who named the moth are just being mean ![]()
Maybe it emerges from its pupa in late spring, or just later than other daggers…
Edit: according to a redditer, it’s named that way because it has a smaller wingspan and lives in the same region as the larger American daggers. This has apparently looked “stunted”, and so the retarded dagger was named.
Bufflehead!
I’m calling people jellyfish cause they lack a brain
And a spine too.
@Mercedes-Fletcher, is this topic open to plants, protezoans, fungi, etc. or strictly animals?
“Supine invertebrate protoplasmic jellies” - Boris Johnson
Pigbutt worm (Chaetopterus pugaporcinus )
YOU PESKY LITTLE DONALD DUCK SHRIMP!
I suppose anything goes, I don’t see why not!
Silly topic, you bunch of dodo birds.
Oh buzz off, you human botfly!
I had to go look that one up, and I really wish I hadn’t. ![]()
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Oh but I love Mudskippers and Rockskippers!
Apparently in Montana there is a “yellow bellied, burying beetle”. (Was Yosemite Sam an entomologist?)
Calling someone with a prickly personality a rough cocklebur seems appropriately insulting…
Interestingly, this is the genus that inspired the invention of velcro (hook-and-loop fasteners).
The word “Donkey” is interesting from a linguistic viewpoint. This word appeared late in the 18th C and nobody really knows it’s origins. https://wordhistories.net/2016/07/01/donkey/
It appeared in English, German and Spanish at that time.
Another animal who’s name is baffling is “shark”. See this speculative post.
https://uselessetymology.com/2023/07/19/shark-was-a-word-for-a-terrible-person-before-it-was-the-name-of-the-animal/
Get out, you Armageddon reedtail!
You Freak!!
There are so many butterflies with shockingly insulting names if you look hard enough, even beyond the freak
Spineless Yucca!
(Side note: I’m finding it ironic that it’s an insult for a person to be spineless, but I’d definitely prefer plants to be so…
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