Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Science/2019 February 1

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February 1

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Butterfly size

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What is the size range of Limenitis arthemis? The article doesn't say -- and although I've seen quite a few of them when I visited Nashville, I cannot rely on my own size estimates because they tend to be exaggerated (especially if the species in question trigger a phobic reaction -- which these ones didn't -- but even without one, I tend to overestimate the size of larger butterfly species). 2601:646:8A00:A0B3:855:E0A8:6DB:BEBB (talk) 06:41, 1 February 2019 (UTC) [reply]

talk page fodder
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.
You have phobias about butterflies? I shudder to think what your reaction to spiders would be. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots08:59, 1 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Only about 11 of the larger species from the genus Papilio (none whatsoever about any of the Nymphalidae), and none at all about spiders -- and if you can't be helpful and answer the question, will you please keep your yap shut?! 2601:646:8A00:A0B3:70AE:764:63A1:67AC (talk) 10:20, 1 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Your sock brought it up, for no apparent good reason. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots15:42, 1 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]
I am NOT a fucking sock, I have a dynamic IP -- so lay off your false accusations already! And in any case, the Ref Desk rules are clear -- if you can't say anything helpful in response to a legitimate question (dynamic IP or not), then keep your fucking yap shut! 2601:646:8A00:A0B3:70AE:764:63A1:67AC (talk) 02:34, 2 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]
There are also civility rules. So why did you bring up this alleged fear of butterflies if you didn't want to talk about it? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots05:26, 2 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]
You're the one who first broke these by mocking me without even pretending to answer the question! 2601:646:8A00:A0B3:70AE:764:63A1:67AC (talk) 03:41, 3 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Again, why did you bring up your supposed butterfly phobia? What does it have to do with the question? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots03:55, 3 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks! So it is pretty big -- and I didn't overestimate its size by much, if at all (I estimated that the ones I saw in Nashville were up to 4 inches in size). And this is actually a good thing for me -- it confirms that black butterflies up to 4 inches in size don't scare me (which means that most black swallowtails (like Papilio polyxena or P. troilus) don't scare me either, unless they're exceptionally huge like P. cresphontes -- only tiger-striped ones do, and that only if they're bigger than about 3 1/4 inches (which means that, for example, P. canadensis won't scare me, and P. machaon is unlikely to do so)). In fact, if you want to know, I asked this question so that I would have more info regarding how to deal with my phobia -- and to that extent your answers have been helpful! 2601:646:8A00:A0B3:70AE:764:63A1:67AC (talk) 02:34, 2 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]