The sailor and the courtesan

Common names of some Asian butterflies are relics of a colonial and misogynistic past

Yesterday I took pictures of these butterflies, that I know as Euripus nyctelius and Neptis maghda.

Euripus nyctelius (the courtesan) and Neptis maghda (the spotted sailor)

Then I noticed their common names. The courtesan and the spotted sailor. How is it possible that these names from a bygone age are still used and considered acceptable today?

Many common names of butterflies of this region are military or aristocratic ranks reflecting the colonial past when British administrators with time on their hands went round looking for new butterflies. Men like the delightfully named Captain Stackhouse Pinwill, Frederic Moore¹ who worked at the East India Company Museum and Brigadier William Harry Evans, an enthusiastic lepidopterist who served as an intelligence officer in India at the beginning of the 20th century.

Some examples: (all images photos I’ve taken around Chiang Mai)

The Commander Moduza procris; The Common Nawab Polyura athamas; the French duke Euthalia franciae; the grand duchess Euthalia patala,

Other names reflect outdated and now unacceptable views on women. Why are these names still found in authoritative books and websites?

Painted Jezebel Delias hyparete; The Painted Lady Vanessa cardui; dark grass-brown Orsotriaena; medus; the Yellow Jezebel Delias agostinal

The most egregious example has, fortunately, been renamed. Orsotriaena medus until the last few years was known by a racially offensive term that caused gasps of horror when heard in a Bafta awards ceremony. It’s now known as dark grass-brown.

The Thai names, of course, do not reproduce these anachronistic slurs and unsavory connections and are based on appearance and other non-controversial features. Euripus nyctelius, for example, is “butterfly with regular concave wings.”

Time to dump the barons and dukes on the scrap heap of history!

1. Anecdote: While taking pictures in a National Park, I was approached by a group of Japanese (who turned out to be butterfly collectors) and who asked me the way to the Headquarters. One gave me his card and I reciprocated. There was suddenly an outbreak of whooping and jumping up and down and they all begged me for selfies and autographs. “You must be the Mr. Moore! We meet the Mr. Moore!” one of them exclaimed, “what a day!” Frederic Moore, whose name appears in the authority line after many SE Asian species binomials, was born in 1830.