Warriorflies anyone?

[WhiskyBottle]

I had just brought the NN book Dragonflies by Philip Corbet. (£10 in WWT Slimbridge shop, list £25)

In it the authors talk about the confusion caused by "dragonflies"

The problem is Dragonflies can be used to describe all Ordonata, that's Zygoptera (damsels) and Anisoptera (dragons).

AND

It is used just for just the big-uns, i.e. Anisoptera, with the name Zygoptera being used for Damselflies.

They suggest the term "Warriorfly" to refer to the larger Anisoptera, to equate with Damselfly being the small Zygoptera.

The term Dragonfly would then be reserved for the higher level order of Ordonata which includes both Zygoptera (damselflies) and Anisoptera (warriorflies)

Is anyone else adopting this naming convention? I didn't see any evidence of it on the BDS site. Personally I've never had a problem with "dragonfly" having a dual meaning.

What do others think?

Good book btw.

[Dogghound]

Ive never heard of this term before, I think its just a case of common names becoming needlessly confusing.

[charlieb]

From what I have seen in old-er texts (30 years+?), it used to be common practice to call Odonata by their taxonomic names, as in coenagrions and aeshnas.

I wonder where the knight-fly is to save the damsel-fly from the dragon-fly?

[ChrisR]

Hmm, I haven't spotted any confusion with the name 'dragonfly' until now I suggest that the author of the book is perhaps being a little mischievous ... or perhaps fixing a problem that doesn't exist?

[Paul mabbott]

You'll all know what I think - what's wrong with the proper names if you want to differentiate the two groups?

[jerryh]

I generally have the greatest respect for wildlife experts and professionals, but I simply don't agree with them (or some of them) when they want to mess with English colloquial, folk or common names. Their reasoning is that using "dragonflies" for both the whole order and the sub-order is confusing.

Maybe it is, but Linnaeus has given us a fantastic system for avoiding confusion - scientific names (don't call them "latin names" - that'll just get me going on that subject, too ).

Scientific names are not confusing. Dragonflies are Anisoptera, Damselflies are Zygoptera. The whole order of dragonflies and damselflies is the Odonata.
Not confusing at all, so why not use this system and leave the treasurehouse of colloquial and folk names alone?

End of rant
Jerry

[JRsbugs]

Originally Posted by jerryh

I generally have the greatest respect for wildlife experts and professionals, but I simply don't agree with them (or some of them) when they want to mess with English colloquial, folk or common names. Their reasoning is that using "dragonflies" for both the whole order and the sub-order is confusing.

Maybe it is, but Linnaeus has given us a fantastic system for avoiding confusion - scientific names (don't call them "latin names" - that'll just get me going on that subject, too ).

Scientific names are not confusing. Dragonflies are Anisoptera, Damselflies are Zygoptera. The whole order of dragonflies and damselflies is the Odonata.
Not confusing at all, so why not use this system and leave the treasurehouse of colloquial and folk names alone?

End of rant
Jerry

No expert here, and I do agree when necessary that the scientific names are the only reliable ones to use.

Somehow though it would be a bit of a tongue twister when I see a 'Dragonfly' to shout out,

Oh look, there goes an Anisoptera/Zygoptera!

Janet

[jerryh]

Originally Posted by JRsbugs

No expert here, and I do agree when necessary that the scientific names are the only reliable ones to use.

Somehow though it would be a bit of a tongue twister when I see a 'Dragonfly' to shout out,

Say "dragonfly" - I'll know what you mean
Jerry

[Paul mabbott]

Originally Posted by JRsbugs

No expert here, and I do agree when necessary that the scientific names are the only reliable ones to use.

Somehow though it would be a bit of a tongue twister when I see a 'Dragonfly' to shout out,



Janet

No; you'd probably shout, 'A yellow-bellied darter' or something specific. If you just wanted to differentiate between damselflies and the others then say, 'A zygopteran' or 'An anisopteran'. Where is the problem?

I think this all boils down to profit-seeking 'experts' (some of whom may, actually, be experts in the real sense of the world; in which case they're just condescending so-and-sos) dumbing down: the great masses are absolutely incapable of understanding or using a latinate word, lets make up something in 'English'!

[Jenny W]

Warriorflies is a completely new one on me too!