Three-spotted Fillip

Heterophleps triguttaria

June 19, 2013

So, who's this Fillip? At first,the genus Heterophleps promises an obvious clue. Hetero is an old Greek word for  "other". Phleps is a form of the English surname Philip, derived from the Greek word Philipos (horse lover). Triguttaria simply means "three spots" - no mystery  there.

It's easy to jump to the comparison of "Other Philip" and the phonetically identical "Fillip". Especially since Fillip is used as a synonym of the name Philip. But Fillip also means a small, quick movement  - a "flick". This action could be applied to a little moth, yes?

My guess is that the name comes from the former - the name Philip, which still begs the question - who's this Phil guy? It's fairly safe to assume it is someone Dr Gottlieb August Wilhelm Herrich-Schäffer wanted to honor when he pinned the name on this geometrid in 1854. 

Hey, I gave it a shot...