2022

NT0273 : Peacock Butterfly

taken 2 years ago, near to Bridgend, West Lothian, Scotland

Peacock Butterfly
Peacock Butterfly
For once, a butterfly that stayed still for the camera! There were five or six of these fluttering about from thistle to thistle at this field edge in the late afternoon. It is generally assumed that the prominent 'eye' markings on the wings are there to fool potential predators into thinking they are looking into the eyes of a far larger creature. However, since it would be unlikely to find two creatures with such large eyes so close together, there are other theories around which basically say that the makings have evolved into this because the whole image looks so weird to predators that they get confused and worried enough to look elsewhere for their prey.
The scientific name of the European Peacock has changed at some point in the last few years. The species name - which, for whatever reason, is always formed by adding what is essentially an adjective to the genus (the next higher-up broader grouping in classification terms) name - used to be Inachis io, but is now Aglais io. How this officially takes place is something of a mystery. What is certain is that some clever person writes a scientific paper proposing the taxonomic name change, and the clever people reviewing the paper agree. The next bit is, from initial attempts to get an online answer, a bit unclear and seemingly rather haphazard. Although there are various international bodies that oversee these things there doesn't seem to be any particular organisation that is formally in charge, and the changes appear to take place gradually over a period of time by general consensus in the scientific community. The genus 'Inachis' has now disappeared completely, and from the snippets I have read seems only to have ever included this one butterfly species.

Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]   © Copyright Ian Dodds and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
This photo is linked from: Automatic Clusters: · Looking [4] · Edge [3] ·
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NT0273, 23 images   (more nearby 🔍)
Photographer
Ian Dodds   (more nearby)
Date Taken
Sunday, 14 August, 2022   (more nearby)
Submitted
Sunday, 14 August, 2022
Subject Location
OSGB36: geotagged! NT 0278 7354 [10m precision]
WGS84: 55:56.7019N 3:33.4926W
Camera Location
OSGB36: geotagged! NT 0278 7354
View Direction
NORTH (about 0 degrees)
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Image Type (about): close look 
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