No idea  - I work on the basis: if you don't ask, you don't get and am an inveterate optimist...

It will surprise no one that I originally read that as "invertebrate optimist" ...

However, there is one issue that does sometimes puzzle me - namely that while I understand that regular plural nouns are excluded from the database, surely this should not apply to verb forms that happen to resemble noun plurals by way of spelling?

Indeed, ceases provides possibly a canonical example, as it is not only a verb, but a 3rd person singular present tense form. Yes, this spelling also appears in present tense plural forms, but that's a consequence of English increasingly dispensing with declension and fully inflected conjugation over the passage of time.

I am also at this juncture wondering how hilarious it would be, to try and construct a Latin version of the game, with all manner of rules that would include or exclude the myriad inflected forms that pervade the vocabulary ...

If that isn't a daunting enough prospect, try a Classical Greek version ... made all the more difficult by the existence of grammatical constructs not found in other languages, such as the middle voice and optative mood for verbs, not to mention Greek verbs being based upon aspect instead of tense ...

Bleh, forgot to follow up on the matter of Styx infernalis ...

This is a white butterfly with deep brown or black wing veins, and probably would not attract much attention from anyone from the UK.

However, this butterfly caused headaches for taxonomists for over a century.

The reason for this?

When butterflies are dissected, in professional scientific work, it becomes pretty obvious in a short period of time, where your specimen will fit in the Lepidoptera family tree.

Skippers (Family Hesperiidae), for example, pretty much stand out from all the other Families very quickly indeed, and likewise, it's pretty easy to allocate a specimen to the Family Papilionidae (Swallowtails etc.), because these tend to be pretty unmistakable as well.

Two Families that sometimes require a little more work are the Lycaenidae (Blues, Coppers, Hairstreaks and relations), and the Riodinidae (Metalmarks). Separating them occasionally requires extra attention to detail, but usually, this isn't a big problem, because each Family has its own set of anatomical idiosyncrasies, that once found, make the placement of any newly discovered species more time consuming than actually difficult. At least, once you've gained the requisite experience and know what to look for.

Then along came Styx infernalis . Which threw a whole bag of spanners into the process.

This is because this otherwise unassuming little butterfly, when first examined, appeared to be a "parts bin" special, with anatomical features taken from no less than four different Families. Or so it seemed, even when microscopes were brought into play.

As a consequence, this butterfly has been moved around the Lepidoptera family tree to a hilarious extent. Some taxonomists placed it in the Lycaenidae, others in the Danaidae, yet others in the Riodinidae, and at least one taxonomist decided that it was such an anatomical outlier that it deserved its own Family, the Stygidae.

Only with the advent of DNA sequencing, was the mystery finally resolved, and the butterfly finally assigned to the Riodinidae, where it stands out as being unique among the Metalmarks. Though it's perhaps not surprising that it's South American, as South America is the true home of this Family.

We have but one species in Europe, about 15 to 20 in Asia, about another 15 or so in Australia, and a respectable 100 or so in North America. Go to Central and South America, however, and there's nearly two thousand species to choose from. Peru alone has something like 900 of them. Chances are that Costa Rica has at least 250 species to choose from when Pat steps off the plane and heads for the nearest decent sized patch of rainforest.

In addition, many of the Metalmarks live up to their name, being decorated with iridescent metallic spangles in a range of hues, with blue or red being popular colour choices. Some of the more interesting ones are solid metallic blue with eye spots, and if there are any Ancyluris or Rhetus species present, these are a blast, though I'm more used to hearing of these being found in Amazonian Brazil, Peru and Ecuador.

Meanwhile, since Costa Rica has come up as a topic, look out for the native Orthoptera of that locality ... I guarantee you'll use up at least half a gigabyte of camera storage on them when you discover how utterly bizarre some of them are ...

Oh freddled gruntbuggly
Thy micturations are to me
As pleddled gabbleblotchits
Upon a lurgid bee

Groop I implore thee
My foonting turlingdromes
And hooptiously drangle me
With crinkly bindlewurdles
Or else I will rend thee in the gobberwarts
With my bluglecruncheon, see if I don't!

Can't help but think that whoever wrote this document, would blow an artery if they were transported back to any 1970's school playground. Some of the words exchanged in playgrounds of that era would be considered linguistic weapons of mass destruction today ...

If you're still in Peru, there's a butterfly for you to look out for ... bearing the wonderful taxonomic name of Styx infernalis.

Not especially remarkable in appearance, but it caused headaches for taxonomists for over a century. When I've had my night's kip, remind me to tell you the story.

And I'll round off the selection for now with:

[1] Bermuda Blue Angelfish, Holacanthus bermudensis
[2] Coral Beauty Angelfish, Centropyge bispinosa
[3] Bicolour Angelfish, Centropyge bicolor

Couple of notes to make at this point - in the case of the larger Angelfishes (Pomacanthus and some of the Holacanthus species), these undergo a dramatic colour change from juvenile to adult. If you check out the species in that Genus, and see just how radical the colour changes are, you'll understand why these fishes are popular with the lucky people who can afford to buy and house them. Though in the case of Holacanthus ciliaris, the Queen Angelfish, that adds to the expense the fact that to grows to be 20 inches long, and as a consequence needs a 5,000 gallon aquarium if you're going to house it properly ...

Several of the larger Wrasses also undergo significant colour changes, though some of these are too big for the home aquarium, and are usually only seen in public aquaria as a result.

Then you have the fishes that undergo sex changes. The various Fairy Basslets in the SubFamily Anthiinae are prime examples - these gorgeously coloured fishes begin life as female, and the largest female changes into a male when the resident male in the shoal dies (or is removed via predation). One of the most resplendent of these is the Princess Fairy Basslet, Pseudanthias smithvanizi, which is one of the true "catwalk stars" of the animal kingdom in terms of colouration.

Meanwhile, a fish that will really leave you with your eyes on stalks when you see it, is the Mandarin Fish, Synchiropus splendidus, which has pretty much every colour of the rainbow somewhere on its body. Also featured in the line up of "wow, look at that" fish are Stonogobiops yasha, the Hi-Fin Clown Goby, Equetus lanceolatus, the Jack-Knife fish, and Platax batavianus, the Zebra Batfish (in its outlandish juvenile form).

One that you sadly won't see in the aquarium, because no one has cracked the secret of keeping it alive in captivity, is Pseudanthias tuka, the Purple Queen. A photo of this beauty in the wild can be viewed here.

And now, time to take a break.

Next up, we have:

[1] Indian Butterfly Fish, Chaetodon mitratus
[2] Spotted Tang, Zebrasoma gemmatum
[3] Royal Empress Angelfish, Pygoplites diacanthus