One of the advantages of only having caught 4 moths last night is that it gives me plenty of time to look more closely at them. The Flounced Rustic is actually a very beautiful moth. However, it doesn’t seem to me that it flounces about in an exaggeratedly impatient or angry manner.
Presumably it’s name derives more from that of a flounce, or flounced, dress.
Flounce is an exaggeration, a frill or a flounce. It is a wide strip of fabric gathered and sewn to a skirt or dress. They most often appear at the hem and help exaggerate the character and silhouette of a skirt.
Your suggestion as to the origin of the vernacular name probably makes more sense than the explanation of the scientific name: Luperina, an adjective coined from lupus, a wolf. Testacea, from testaceus, brick-coloured. Emmett in his book on scientific names says "this is a variable species and Viennese specimens may have been redder than British ones; alternatively their bricks may have been less red".
ReplyDeleteI have seen many (mostly male) moth'ers wondering about the name and to me the big flounce along the lower part of the wing is the key ID feature, as well as being the source of the name. Other moths have something similiar but not as well defined.
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