5 ms·

I noticed moths came up a couple times, a brief guess why: Wikipedia says it's "one of most speciose orders" (besides flies and beetles). But maybe it has the m

by dmix 4y ago

I noticed moths came up a couple times, a brief guess why: Wikipedia says it's "one of most speciose orders" (besides flies and beetles). But maybe it has the most pages because they are so easy to catch with a light in your backyard, that it's far easier to name them all than something parasitoid wasps [1]? Although this same paper says that "more species of beetles (>350,000) have been described than any other order of animal, insect or otherwise" [1] https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/274431v1.full.pdf https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/274431v1.full.pdf Just speculation...

DonaldFisk 4y ago
Mother here. The examples listed in the article aren't of much use, as there's not much there you can use to identify species. If you're interested in moths, you'll visit a specialist web site, and if you aren't, you won't visit the Wikipedia pages either. The web site I use is https://www.ukmoths.org.uk https://www.ukmoths.org.uk, which has photographs of each (UK) species, as well as its range, food plant, and flying time. Regarding the number of beetle species, JBS Haldane (probably) said that "God is incredibly fond of beetles" (or words to that effect).
- beowulfey 4y ago
  As an aside, is mother actually the term? My first readthrough of your comment had me envisioning an incredibly knowledgeable parent with a cool hobby before I realized what you meant!
  - Taywee 4y ago
    According to Wiktionary, it's been used since at least 2001. I was similarly confused.
    - myfonj 4y ago
      https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/moth-er https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/moth-er is filed with hyphen ("moth-er"); hyphenless spelling ("mother") is listed as an alternative form. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mother https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mother does not mention that fact, though. Nevertheless, what a nice new ambiguous word to spice up the context!
  - ask_b123 4y ago
    It had me rereading the parent to see when parents or kids had been mentioned.

by dmix 4y ago

DonaldFisk 4y ago

Mother here. The examples listed in the article aren't of much use, as there's not much there you can use to identify species. If you're interested in moths, you'll visit a specialist web site, and if you aren't, you won't visit the Wikipedia pages either. The web site I use is https://www.ukmoths.org.uk https://www.ukmoths.org.uk, which has photographs of each (UK) species, as well as its range, food plant, and flying time. Regarding the number of beetle species, JBS Haldane (probably) said that "God is incredibly fond of beetles" (or words to that effect).

beowulfey 4y ago
As an aside, is mother actually the term? My first readthrough of your comment had me envisioning an incredibly knowledgeable parent with a cool hobby before I realized what you meant!
- Taywee 4y ago
  According to Wiktionary, it's been used since at least 2001. I was similarly confused.
  - myfonj 4y ago
    https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/moth-er https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/moth-er is filed with hyphen ("moth-er"); hyphenless spelling ("mother") is listed as an alternative form. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mother https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mother does not mention that fact, though. Nevertheless, what a nice new ambiguous word to spice up the context!
- ask_b123 4y ago
  It had me rereading the parent to see when parents or kids had been mentioned.