www.alphadictionary.com

As it appears we have one flitting amongst us now, and it's never come across the board, perhaps it's fitting to fit this one in somehow?

Monarchs Rule!

I'm not much of a lepidopterist, but I love
monarchs.
It started decades ago when I was camping along the
river and noticed one particular critter making its way
southwest. It would land on the sandbar, then up and away.
Only to be blown back two feet. It made progress of about
one foot forward for every three it attempted. Finally out
of sight along came another, repeating the process.
I looked up the critters and became enamored with their
story, now made famous by Discovery Channel, Nat Geo,and many others.
KU in Lawrence, Kansas started Monarch Watch, to which
I belong, with thousands of participants, and pictures
galore. I grow four different kinds of milkweed, their
favorite food, which is avoided by all other predators, and
makes them sick should they eat a Monarch. Thus they
are fairly protected.

Monarchs Live! Yesiree. Monarchs Rule.
Magnificent critter with magnificent story.

From "Lepidoptera," the name of the group of insects (technically, the "order" of insects) that includes the butterflies, skippers, and moths. It is derived from the Greek words for "scaly" and "wing" - the scaly-winged insects. The "p" is not silent, as it would be if it were at the beginning of the word.

The insects are divided into about 30 orders, give or take a few, depending on the authority one consults. The Lepidoptera are one of the major orders, comprised of many tens of thousands of species.

In insect classification, orders are given names derived from the Greek, but they are treated in English as English words. Order names are capitalized, except when used as an adjective: lepidopterous insects (which, clumsy and redundant as it is, still finds use among entomologists.) Other languages have their own rules and names for classification above the genus level.

Genus- and species-level names, on the other hand, are Latinized, universal, and are treated in English as Latin words. Their use is governed by rules that apply internationally. Specifically, the species name must match the genus name in gender, number and tense; and when written out, genus and species names are italicized, indicating that they are foreign words. The genus name is always capitalized, regardless of where it appears in a sentence, and the species name is never capitalized. So, "Luke is enraptured by Danaus plexippus." In the typewriter era, italicization was replaced with a single underline, which is the editor's mark for italicization. The single underline is also used for genus and species names when writing by hand. One may see the rules governing genus and species names at work even in Chinese texts that are otherwise written in Chinese pictographs.

There are a few more language and usage rules governing scientific naming. There are even a handful that govern the use of common names (like "Monarch") in English. If you're interested, let me know.

I really am. Perhaps some references I could peruse
when lazing away an afternoon after all the "hectic"
conversation here on this site (Kidding, of course).

I am just hoping for Spring. With the temp at 4 deg
right now I'm so sick of winter, can't wait for
monarchs.

Long live the Monarch!

The best source for this kind of info is the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN), which you can find on the internet. Be forewarned: it's pretty technical and deals with many, many aspects of systematics besides the proper written form of names.

What I wrote above is probably sufficient for the informed layperson to read and use scientific names in a reasonably literate way. I would add that the genus name ("Danaus" in the case of the Monarch) may be abbreviated to one letter, but only after it has been spelled out completely at least once in a document. Since I spelled it out here already, the next time I use it, I may write D. plexippus.

If my document contains two or more generic (the adjective form of genus) names beginning with the same letter, I may use the first two letters of either generic name as the abbreviation: Da. plexippus, to distinguish it from another genus that begins with "D." If more than two letters are needed to distinguish between two genera (plural of genus,) I'm out of luck and may not abbreviate the names.

There are rare exceptions to this rule, found primarily among the mosquito genera, but it is otherwise intended to apply universally for zoologists. Botanists and microbiologists have similar, but different, rules.

The best source for this kind of info is the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN), which you can find on the internet. Be forewarned: it's pretty technical and deals with many, many aspects of systematics besides the proper written form of names.

What I wrote above is probably sufficient for the informed layperson to read and use scientific names in a reasonably literate way. I would add that the genus name ("Danaus" in the case of the Monarch) may be abbreviated to one letter, but only after it has been spelled out completely at least once in a document. Since I spelled it out here already, the next time I use it, I may write D. plexippus.

If my document contains two or more generic (the adjective form of genus) names beginning with the same letter, I may use the first two letters of either generic name as the abbreviation: Da. plexippus, to distinguish it from another genus that begins with "D." If more than two letters are needed to distinguish between two genera (plural of genus,) I'm out of luck and may not abbreviate the names.

There are rare exceptions to this rule, found primarily among the mosquito genera, but it is otherwise intended to apply universally for zoologists. Botanists and microbiologists have similar, but different, rules.

Oops. I had a glitch in my internet connection.

INTERESTING:
GLITCH is the word for the day: today 13 Feb.

Thanks for the reference, I bookmarked it and put it in my
file under Monarchs, and will peruse it on a day when I
have more time. But it does look quite helpful and
interesting. Am appreciative.