[Odonata-l] Etymology of Libellula incesta...

[Dennis Paulson]

Dear Michel,

Hagen applied many strange and often undecipherable names to odonate  
species. For example, Sympetrum corruptum (corrupted), Sympetrum  
illotum (dirty), Dromogomphus spoliatus (plundered), Brechmorhoga  
mendax (lying, deceiving), Enallagma praevarum (unsteady), Enallagma  
ebrium (drunken).

Sid Dunkle and I, in our checklist of North American odonates, tried  
to figure out the origin of these names but failed in many cases. For  
Libellula incesta, we wrote "incestuous, perhaps alluding to looking  
like a hybrid between other closely related species," but this was  
pure speculation. Hagen never explained the etymology of any of his  
names, and they will remain unexplained. Who, for example, were  
Irene, Elisa, and Amanda, all species names coined by him?

Dennis

On May 29, 2007, at 2:15 PM, Pilon, Michel wrote:

> Hello,
>
> My question concerns the etymology of the scientific name for the  
> "Slaty skimmer" which is "Libellula incesta"...
>
> Do you have any idea why they chose the name "incesta" for this  
> species???
>
> In french, this skimmer is called "Libellule voluptueuse" where  
> "volupteuse" means "voluptuous" in english....
>
> Any comment about where those names may come from???
>
> Thank you very much in advance!
>
>
>
> Michel
>
> Michel Pilon
> Québec, Canada
> Mes Parcours Nature:
> http://parcours.pilonm.org
>
> Quiz de chants d'oiseaux
> http://parcours.pilonm.org/cgi-bin/sonOiseaux.pl
>
>
>
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-----
Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115
206-528-1382
dennispaulson at comcast.net



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