Nymphalis antiopa
What is in a name? Well, the Mourning Cloak, our state butterfly for Montana, is named: Camberwell Beauty in England, Trauermantel in German, Sorgmantel in Swedish, Траурница in Russian, キベリタテハ in Japanese and 黄縁立羽 in Chinese (Wikipedia). Thanks to Carl Linnaeus we have a naming system, binomial nomenclature, that transcends common names for animals coined in different languages. Using a scientific name (name in the subheader above for Mourning Cloak) we can speak or write about an animal knowing that everybody will know what we are referring to no matter what our or somebody else’s language is. The following video from the Field Museum (Chicago) explains:
My March 16, 2014 blog highlights local conditions for finding Nymphalis antiopa in early spring. Anytime you can see a butterfly with snow on the ground it is unbelievable, a hard-to-believe story for many folks. Now that you recognize what I am writing about, here are some more spring time photos:
