A living stained glass window, the Phaon Crescent

Today I happened across this tiny beautiful living stained glass window. I felt very fortunate to be allowed to take these pictures. What we have here is a Phyciodes Phaon “phaon crescent.”

Meet Phyciodes Phaon “Phaon Crescent.”

I got to thinking, what is in a common name? Sometimes part of the Latin binomial name, but not always. In this case it does contain part of the actual classification name, and that name has mythological history. The Phaon part of the name refers to a story in Greek mythology. A boatman ferried a poor old man across the sea and refused to take payment. The old man was actually the goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite. For his kindness she awarded the boatman a box of ointment which gave him youth and great beauty. The crescent part of the name refers to the light-colored crescent mark on the hind wings. There are other “crescent” butterflies as well.

So, this little one was aptly named for its beauty and little light crescent marks on its wings. Not all common names are as flattering, and often there are several of them which can lead to confusion.  Common names are much more widely used than the scientific names because they are in Latin and people often don’t know what they mean or how to pronounce them.

If we break down the Latin name for the Phaon Cresent “Phyciodes phaon” we get this. Phyciodes is a 2 part word derived first from a Greek word “phykos” which means seaweed. Seaweed was what some cosmetics were made of, especially rouge type red pigments. The Latin added “odes” which means like, bearing or having qualities of. Then Phaon, what we discussed of the boatman before. So, the scientific name actually describes the magical beauty ointment Aphrodite gave the boatman for his kindness. In the scientific name the crescent mark isn’t mentioned at all. This species was named in 1864. Perhaps back then, this name and it components were more readily recalled in conversation- now, we can use the internet.

Now you’ve met this tiny beauty and learned its name. I still personally think a name that likened it to stained glass would have been better but I’m 159 years late to the party. Perhaps one day, I’ll discover a new species and get some say in the name. Stay tuned.

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