Kamehameha butterfly
| Kamehameha butterfly | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Conservation status | |
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Not evaluated (IUCN 3.1)
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Nymphalidae |
| Genus: | Vanessa |
| Species: | V. tameamea |
| Binomial name | |
| Vanessa tameamea (Eschscholtz, 1878) |
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The Kamehameha butterfly (Vanessa tameamea) is one of the two species of butterfly native to Hawaii (the other is Udara blackburni).[1] The Hawaiian name is pulelehua. This is today a catch-all native term for all butterflies; its origin seems to be pulelo "to float" or "to undulate in the air" + lehua, a Metrosideros polymorpha flower: an animal that floats through the air, from one lehua to another. Alternatively, it is called lepelepe-o-Hina - roughly, "Hina's fringewing" - which is today also used for the introduced Monarch butterfly. The Kamehameha butterfly was named the state insect of Hawaii in 2009.[2]
The caterpillars feed on the leaves of plants in the Urticaceae family,[3] especially those of māmaki (Pipturus albidus)[4] but also ōpuhe (Urera spp.), ʻākōlea (Boehmeria grandis), olonā (Touchardia latifolia), and maʻoloa (Neraudia spp.).[3] Adults eat the sap of koa (Acacia koa) trees.[5]
It is named after the royal House of Kamehameha; the last king of this lineage, Kamehameha V, had died in 1872, a short time before this species was described. The specific name tameamea is an old-fashioned and partially wrong transcription of "Kamehameha". The Hawaiian language has no strict distinction between the voiceless alveolar plosive and voiceless velar plosive; use varies from island to island but today "k" is used as the standard transliteration. The voiceless glottal transition "h" is distinct and should always be pronounced - for example, "aloha" is correct whereas "aloa" is a wrong pronunciation. Thus, while "Tamehameha" would be a legitimate transcription (though considered old-fashioned on most islands), "Tameamea" is not.
[edit] References
- ^ Oboyski, Peter T. "Kamehameha Butterfly (Vanessa tameamea)". University of California, Berkeley. http://nature.berkeley.edu/~poboyski/hawaii/kambutterfly.htm. Retrieved 2009-11-27.
- ^ Cooper, Jeanne (2009-08-21). "Emblems of Hawaii a surprise to many Americans". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2009/08/21/alohafriday082109.DTL.
- ^ a b Scott, James A. (1992). The Butterflies of North America: A Natural History and Field Guide. Stanford University Press. p. 281. ISBN 9780804720137. http://books.google.com/books?id=Oa5m8gZcGjMC.
- ^ Little Jr., Elbert L.; Roger G. Skolmen (1989). "Mamaki" (PDF). Common Forest Trees of Hawaii (Native and Introduced). United States Forest Service. http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/forestry/trees/CommonTreesHI/CFT_Pipturus_albidus.pdf.
- ^ Scott, Susan (1991). Plants and Animals of Hawaii. Bess Press. p. 78. ISBN 9780935848939. http://books.google.com/books?id=6MvFZ1P71GQC&dq.
[edit] External links
Media related to Vanessa tameamea at Wikimedia Commons
- "50. Kamehameha Butterfly". Hawaii Biological Survey’s Good Guys & Bad Guys. Bernice P. Bishop Museum. http://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/good-bad/vanessa.html.
- "Hawaii's Butterflies". University of Hawaiʻi Insect Museum. University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/peps/museum/hawaiis_butterflies.htm.
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