Elaenia

[pat]

Elaenias are a type of new world flycatcher. Quite drab birds and difficult to tell one species from another, but fairly common. Suitable for inclusion as a rare word?

[Calilasseia]

Interesting that odd words such as "Elaenia" are surprisingly prevalent in the bird world. Meanwhile, I'm hard pressed to find, for example, any Lepidoptera with common names that would be considered similarly unusual.

I've already commented in another thread on the manner in which Indian butterflies were given their common names by the Sons of Empire during the Raj, and how those names reflected the prejudices thereof. "Commodore" or "Sergeant" would probably be considered common words in a Chi game, though "Nawab" is probably going to end up in the rare word list. I suspect that the Two-Tailed Pasha, Charaxes jasius, might also provide "Pasha" as a candidate for the rare list, though since both "Pasha" and "Nawab" have been used in the past as epithets for various eminent persons. "Pasha" was the name for a high-ranking political and military official in the Ottoman Empire, for example, and "Nawab" denoted the ruler of part of the Mughal Empire.

In other places, Imperial prejudices seem to have been toned down considerably when reaching for names - the various Birdwing butterflies in south east Asia being a case in point, along with the Oak Blues of the Genus Narathura (or Arhopala, depending upon which taxonomic authority you prefer), to which are related the Plushblues of the Genus Flos, and the Leafblues of the Genus Amplypodia. This collection, by the way, is in taxonomic flux, as the molecular phylogeny data is incomplete, and still awaiting further research.

Likewise, the Genus Drupadia are klown as the Posies, and the Genus Horaga are known as the Onyxes, courtesy of their resemblance to the geological rocks of the same name.

Given that there are around 10,000 species of bird, but over 20,000 species of butterfly, one would have thought that the latter would be more prone to acquiring unusual names. But aside from such infrequent oddities as Teinopalpus imperialis, the Kaiser-I-Hind, the majority of butterflies have been given common names that have at least some rational basis. Bhutanitis lidderdalei, for example, the Bhutan Glory, pretty much tells you what to expect when you see it - it's native to Bhutan, and is one of the truly spectacular members of the Swallowtail Family. In the case of Charaxes violetta, the Violet Spotted Emperor, the name again prepares you to expect something spectacular in appearance, and this species does not disappoint in that respect.

Then you have the Genus Marpesia - the Daggerwings, of which Marpesia petreus ranges as far north as the southern US states. The sharply pointed hindwing tails lead to this name, and these again include some real "catwalk stars" of the butterfly world, such as Marpesia marcella, the Purple-Stained Daggerwing or Pansy Daggerwing - you can view this beauty here. Another spectacular little species is Gunayan rubricollis, the Ruby-Collared Sapphire, whose name again tells you exactly what to expect.

Meanwhile, birds rejoice in names such as Keas, Tuis, Kakapos and Hoatzins. Go figure.

[birdy]

I know the word elaenia, Pat, but as you say, they are difficult to tell apart.

I know a few basic butterflies and dragonflies, but still have problems telling the different ones apart. I'm getting a little better at figuring out which of the local groups they belong to - skippers, blues, swallowtails, anglewings, etc. I still have to use my field guide. It helps a great deal that I'm usually working from my photos, especially for the dragonflies!

Calilasseia, perhaps some of those unusual-named birds are an early attempt at political correctness rather than using more accurate descriptions. Just think if they had been named aggressive car-attacker, perpetual chest-molter, tubby ground-parrot, or stinky bird.   

[Alan W]

The word elaenia is in the Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com. The latter's definition is "any of numerous tropical American flycatchers of the genus Elaenia, having short crests and small bills."

The genus name is capitalized, but when applied to a member of a particular species it needn't be, although many people do seem to give the word an initial capital E. An example of the word written in lower case is on the ebird.org website, describing Tepui elaenia birds:

Darker and yellower than other elaenias, and usually only elaenia in its habitat... Its most common vocalizations, which include clear whistles and burry calls, are similar to those of other elaenias.

I'll add it as a rare word.

[pat]

Thanks, Alan.