Upupa antaios (2 Viewers)

[Gonçalo Elias]

Hi all,

Upupa antaios is the name of the extinct Saint Helena Hoopoe.

I would like to know what antaios means and where it comes from.

Thanks!
Gonçalo

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Jobling's Key to Scientific Names (here):

antaios
Gr. myth. Antaios, son of Gaia, giant wrestler whose strength was maintained whilst he was in contact with the earth, but who was vanquished by Hercules; "Upupa antaios, new species ... The St. Helena hoopoe was likewise a giant of its kind and as necessarily committed to the earth. ... St. Helena can boast the world's largest earwig (Labidura herculeana, Dermaptera) ... The very long probing bill of U. antaios would have been useful in preying on this species, and it takes no great imagination to envision the world's largest hoopoe conquering the world's largest earwig, thereby reversing the mythological order in having Antaios triumph over Hercules." (Olson 1975) (‡Upupa).

OD here, (starting on page 32, the name itself explained on p.33):

ETYMOLOGY.—In Greek mythology, Antaios (Latin, Anteus) was a giant wrestler, son of Gaea, whose strength was maintained as long as he was in contact with the earth and who was finally vanquished by Hercules. The St. Helena hoopoe was likewise a giant of its kind and as necessarily committed to the earth.

...and onwards (until p.35), ending up with :

[...]
The presence on St. Helena of a hoopoe, a bird characteristic of grassland, glades, or open forest, is another argument against the island's having been entirely covered with heavy forest in pre-European times.

The fairly rich fauna of terrestrial invertebrates on St. Helena would have provided forage for U. antaios. Among this fauna, St. Helena can boast the world's largest earwig (Labidura herculeana, Dermaptera), which lives in burrows and under stones in dry soil and which attains a total length of at least 78 mm and probably more (Brindle, 1970). The very long probing bill of U. antaios would have been useful in preying on this species, and it takes no great imagination to envision the world's largest hoopoe conquering the world's largest earwig, thereby reversing the mythological order in having Antaios triumph over Hercules.

 

[MJB]

Hi all,

Upupa antaios is the name of the extinct Saint Helena Hoopoe.

I would like to know what antaios means and where it comes from.

Thanks!
Gonçalo

It very probably is a Latinised spelling of a Greek word, eg Antaeus (/ænˈtiːəs/; Ancient Greek: Ἀνταῖος Antaîos, lit. "opponent", derived from ἀντάω, antao – 'I face, I oppose'), known to the Berbers as Anti, was a figure in Berber and Greek mythology. He was famed for his defeat by Heracles as part of the Labours of Hercules.

As to why Storrs Olson chose that name, the St Helena Hoopoe was either flightless or nearly so and so it was the opposite of Upupa epops whose flight is so extravagant. I expect those with more expertise than me will add to or demolish my contribution!
MJB
This just gives Olson's account of naming it, but not the reasons: https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/1952/SCtP-0023-Lo_res.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y

 

[Gonçalo Elias]

Thanks both. This is very useful.

 

[PScofield]

Antaeus is mentioned in Ovid's Metamorphosis as a Libyan giant (son of the sea god Poseidon and the Earth goddess Gaea) whose strength was derived from contact with the earth. The origin of the myth of Tereus also comes from Ovid's Metamorphosis. For his crimes the Olympians turned the Thracian king Tereus (son of Ares and the naiad Bistonis) into an ἔποψ (épops) that Linnaeus believed was a hoopoe.

For what it's worth Bailey's 18th C. translation suggested épops was a lapwing and there appears to be no definitive proof what épops was:

"Tereus swift in his grief and desire for revenge, is himself changed to a bird, with a feathered crest on its head. An immoderate, elongated, beak juts out, like a long spear. The name of the bird is the epops, and it looks as though it is armed"

 

[Gonçalo Elias]

Antaeus is mentioned in Ovid's Metamorphosis as a Libyan giant (son of the sea god Poseidon and the Earth goddess Gaea) whose strength was derived from contact with the earth. The origin of the myth of Tereus also comes from Ovid's Metamorphosis. For his crimes the Olympians turned the Thracian king Tereus (son of Ares and the naiad Bistonis) into an ἔποψ (épops) that Linnaeus believed was a hoopoe.

For what it's worth Bailey's 18th C. translation suggested épops was a lapwing and there appears to be no definitive proof what épops was:

"Tereus swift in his grief and desire for revenge, is himself changed to a bird, with a feathered crest on its head. An immoderate, elongated, beak juts out, like a long spear. The name of the bird is the epops, and it looks as though it is armed"

Thanks PScofield.

The confusion between a hoopoe and a lapwing seems to be a problem in the Bible as well. I am referring to the list of unclean animals listed in Leviticus 11 and the way it has been translated.

 

[in vitrio]

For what it's worth Bailey's 18th C. translation suggested épops was a lapwing and there appears to be no definitive proof what épops was:

Aristophanes' Birds (420s BC) is pretty clear. When two men meet Tereus, they burst into laughter at his "triple crest" and beak, and ask if he is a peacock. I doubt a lapwing would generate that sort of reaction. That's leaving aside the onomatopoeia of έποψ.