Les Lestes sont bien des pirates !

[tioneb]

Des preuves sont apportées dans ce document publié en juin 2023. Je l'ai demandé en intégralité, je vous ferai un retour quand je l'aurai.
"Why did William Elford Leach call a small damselfly a ‘pirate’? – Revisiting the etymology of the genus Lestes (Odonata: Lestidae)"

Résumé (désolé, en anglais).
"We present evidence supporting the widely accepted interpretation that the genus name Lestes Leach, 1815, is based on the Greek masculine word λῃστής [lēstēs] meaning ‘robber or pirate’. Comparison of Leach’s brief definition of Lestes with that of the genus Agrion Fabricius, 1775, from which the new genus was split, suggests that W.E. Leach selected the piratical name because the males of species in this genus are armed with pincer-shaped appendages; hence the name is an allusion to the edged weapons carried by pirates. The common view that the name was suggested by the voracious predatory behaviour of lestids, as well as the interpretation that the genus name is based on the French word leste [= nimble] are both rejected."

[morikan]

Intéressant ! Mais que dire alors des Onychogomphus ? Et cette fois les pirates prennent leur revanche sur les Gau gau, les Gau gau, les Gaulois (on a les références culturelles qu'on peut) !