Cabbage Looper Moth

Description:

Previously, the best I could manage for an I.D. was Unidentified Geometridae, but thanks to arne.roysland's species suggestion, I can now call it by it proper scientific name - Trichoplusia ni. The caterpillar shown here is the larva of a Geometrid Moth and according to Wikipedia, it is known by the following Common Names: Looper, Spanworm and Inchworm. I have always found the names of organisms (both scientific and common ) to be fascinating because, with few exceptions, the scientific names give us a glimpse into the minds of the scientists who documented and named them. Similarly, the common names give us a greater insight into the cultures in which they are used. The caterpillar shown here, in my view, is a wonderful example of how the common names express the exact meaning of the scientific name (that isn't always the case) and also translate very well into the common names of other languages. It goes like this - Geometridae comes from Latin and Greek words meaning "earth measurer" (we all learned a little Geometry at school), but here's the best part, the common names in English (at least two of them) Inchworm and Spanworm are obviously also to do with measuring, the "span" referring to the old method of measuring by "hands" (horses are still measured in hands). Where I live, in the Province of Zambales, Philippines, the language is called Sambal and the word "dangan" in Sambal, is a noun which means "the span of a hand" and what do they call this caterpillar? Yes, youv'e guessed it. They call it "Dangan-dangan", the verb which means measuring in Spans.

Habitat:

This Unidentified Geometrid Moth Larva was spotted in our front yard on the leaf of a Painted Nettle (Coleus scutellarioides), known in the Philippines as Mayana. Plant identification - http://www.stuartxchange.org/Badiara.htm...

Notes:

My reference for the name "Dangan-dangan" is the Tina Sambal, English, Tagalog Dictionary compiled by Philippine academics, Sotero B. Elgincolin, Hella E. Goschnick and Priscilla R. Elgincolin. (Note: the "Tina" is a dialectic identifier, there are other Sambal dialects). My copy of this dictionary was given to me as a Xmas gift in 1995 by a relative who had owned it for years and treasured it as the only Tina Sambal Dictionary ever published. When it was handed to me, there were many apologies because one of the corners had been gnawed by a moth (rather appropriate for this spotting), but it was thought to be, perhaps, the only remaining copy of the dictionary. I still have it and use it to this day.