Well, spilus means spot or speck, and enico is latin for "destroy, exhaust, or torture". Usually, they have "flecks" of color in the forewing, so its name means "speckled destroyer" or "speckled torturer".
According to an old list of etymologies, the enicos- is from a Greek term for "single". I thought the pilus must be from Latin pilum and mean a hair, but the same book glosses it as from the Greek for a spot. "Single-spot" - does that match the family in any way?
Comments 3
Reply
Enicospilus / Henicospilus - ἑνικός, unicus; σπῖλος, macula - Ichneumonides
henikós = singolo - single; spîlos = macchia - spot
According to this Italian site: http://www.summagallicana.it/Agassiz_nomenclator_zoologicus/Hymenoptera.htm
Whew!
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment