The Kamehameha butterfly (''Vanessa tameamea'') is one of the two species of butterflyendemic to Hawaii, the other is '' Udara blackburni''. The Hawaiian name is ''pulelehua''. This is today a catch-all native term for all butterflies; its origin seems to be ''pulelo'' "to float" or "to undulate in the air" + ''lehua'', "reddish," or "rainbow colored," probably due to the predominant color of the '' Metrosideros polymorpha'' flower: an animal that floats through the air, from one ''lehua'' to another. Alternatively, it is called ''lepelepe-o-Hina'' – roughly, " Hina's fringewing" – which is today also used for the introduced
monarch butterfly
The monarch butterfly or simply monarch (''Danaus plexippus'') is a milkweed butterfly (subfamily Danainae) in the family Nymphalidae. Other common names, depending on region, include milkweed, common tiger, wanderer, and black-veined brown. It ...
.
The Kamehameha butterfly was named the
state insect
State insects are designated by 48 individual states of the fifty United States. Some states have more than one designated insect, or have multiple categories (e.g., state insect and state butterfly, etc.). Iowa and Michigan are the two states with ...
of Hawaii in 2009, due to the work of a group of fifth-graders from Pearl Ridge Elementary. These 5th graders (Robyn-Ashley Amano, Ryan Asuka, Kristi Kimura, Jennifer Loui, Toshiro Yanai and Jenna Yanke) proposed the butterfly as the state insect to various legislators as a project for Gifted and Talented.
Description
The
caterpillar
Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths).
As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder Sym ...
s feed on the leaves of plants in the family Urticaceae, especially those of ''māmaki'' ('' Pipturus albidus'') but also ''ōpuhe'' (''
Urera
''Urera'' is a genus of flowering plants in the nettle family, Urticaceae. It has a pantropical distribution.Steinmann, V. W. (2005)Four new neotropical species and a new combination of ''Urera'' (Urticaceae).''Acta Botánica Mexicana'' (71), 19- ...
'' spp.), ''ākōlea'' (''
Boehmeria grandis
''Boehmeria grandis'', commonly called ʻakolea, is a flowering species of the Urticaceae family that is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. ʻakolea can be found in mesic to wet forests across Hawaiʻi along streams, on ridges, and valley floors. M ...
''), ''olonā'' (''
Touchardia latifolia
''Touchardia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the nettle family, Urticaceae. It is monotypic containing a single species, ''Touchardia latifolia'', commonly known as olonā in Hawaiian. It is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands.
Etymology
The ge ...
''), and ''maoloa'' (''
Neraudia
''Neraudia'' is a genus of plants in family Urticaceae. All five species are endemic to Hawaii. Adults eat the sap of ''koa'' ('' Acacia koa'') trees.
Taxonomy
It is named after the royal
House of Kamehameha
The House of Kamehameha ''(Hale O Kamehameha)'', or the Kamehameha dynasty, was the reigning Royal Family of the Kingdom of Hawaii, beginning with its founding by Kamehameha I in 1795 and ending with the death of Kamehameha V in 1872 and Lunalilo ...
; the last king of this lineage,
Kamehameha V
Kamehameha V (Lota Kapuāiwa Kalanimakua Aliʻiōlani Kalanikupuapaʻīkalaninui; December 11, 1830 – December 11, 1872), reigned as the fifth monarch of the Hawaiian Kingdom, Kingdom of Hawaiʻi from 1863 to 1872. His motto was "Onipaʻa": i ...
, died in 1872. The common name is taken from the
specific name Specific name may refer to:
* in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database
In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules:
* Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...
, ''tameamea'', an old-fashioned and partially wrong transcription of "Kamehameha". The Hawaiian language has no strict distinction between the voiceless alveolar plosive and voiceless velar plosive; use varies from island to island, but today, "k" is used as the standard transliteration. The
voiceless glottal transition
The voiceless glottal fricative, sometimes called voiceless glottal transition, and sometimes called the aspirate, is a type of sound used in some Speech communication, spoken languages that patterns like a fricative or approximant consonant ''p ...
"h" is distinct and should always be pronounced - for example, "
aloha
''Aloha'' ( , ) is the Hawaiian language, Hawaiian word for love, affection, peace, compassion and mercy, that is commonly used as a simple greeting but has a deeper cultural and spiritual significance to native Hawaiians, for whom the term is u ...
" is correct whereas "aloa" is a wrong pronunciation. Thus, while "Tamehameha" would be a legitimate transcription (though considered old-fashioned on most islands), "Tameamea" is not.