memes

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[–] Demdaru@lemmy.world 11 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Curious. In polish there are also two words. Moth is "ćma" and butterfly is "motyl". Funfact: There is also "ćmić" whichs kinda archaic,but can mean giving very small light (for example, embers), a very small but constant pain or shading/covering/dimming something.

And apparently the word comes from latin "tenebra". Quite dramatic, as it means the word has it roots in word for darkness itself. Quite a name for a small, mostly blind furry butterfly wannabe.

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[–] TabbsTheBat@pawb.social 5 points 3 months ago

Yeah, in lithuanian we just have drugys, though as I said in my experience people use drugys for moths, and drugelis for butterfly, though if you search drugys on the internet and go to pictures you will mostly get pictures of butterflies :3 you'd have to search for "naktinis drugys" (nocturnal butterfly) to get moths

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[–] antonim@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago

And apparently the word comes from latin “tenebra”.

No, what source told you that? It's from Proto-Slavic tьma (darkness), which is a native word. Related to Latin tenebrae, yes, but through a common ancestor.

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[–] Diddlydee@feddit.uk 4 points 3 months ago (4 children)

That'll be because all butterflies are just moths that fly in the daytime. Moths are substantially older and have substantially more variance.

As a side note, the 'buttetfly' in the famous kids book 'The very hungry caterpillar' is in fact a moth as it comes from a cocoon.

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[–] Soggy@lemmy.world 1 point 3 months ago

cocoon

Nature loves to make liars of us, there's at least one genus of butterfly (Parnassius) that spins a cocoon.

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[–] Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works 1 point 3 months ago*

Okay wait, they're just the same but they're different? If moths make cocoons while butterflies form a chrysalis that's a bigger difference from when they fly and how they hold their wings. What about migration? Many butterflies migrate long distances, do any moths?

And it seems to me that butterflies are indifferent to L A M P

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[–] ExcessShiv@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 point 3 months ago (1 child)

all butterflies are just moths that fly in the daytime

I mean, that's just plain wrong though.

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[–] Diddlydee@feddit.uk 1 point 3 months ago

To clarify, moths have been around way longer than butterflies, and butterflies evolved from moth‑like ancestors that switched to flying in the daytime. So in an evolutionary sense, butterflies are just a specialised branch of moths, even though we treat them as their own group today in taxonomy. Moths are the OG Lepidoptera.