Falter

Japanese: Falter

...It is said that when at rest, butterflies fold their wings behind their backs, while moths keep them open, but there are many different types of species that are called moths, and the distinction between them is very vague. In Japanese and English, different words are used for daytime flying things, such as butterfly, and nocturnal things, such as moths. In German, there is a word Falter (or Schmetterlinge) that combines the two, and butterflies are called Tagfalter (day butterflies) and moths are called Nachtfalter (night butterflies). In French, papillon refers to butterflies, and papillon de nuit means moth, just like in German.
[Classification and type]
In recent years, the academically unfounded classification of butterflies and moths has been abandoned, and Lepidoptera is now divided into two suborders:

From [Butterfly]

...For example, there are many butterflies that perch with their wings open, and many moths that fly around during the day and drink nectar from flowers. The tendency to distinguish between the two is a difference in thinking due to national character, and while there are separate words in English, German and French have no unique words other than a common word (Falter in German, papillon in French) with the adjective "daytime" or "nighttime" added. Originally, a group (butterflies) that is only active during the day arose within a unified lineage with common characteristics as Lepidoptera, but the relationship between the two is not fundamentally different from that of many other lineages (moths). ...

*Some of the terminology that mentions "Falter" is listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

Japanese:

…静止するときは，チョウは翅を背面にたたむが，ガは広げたままであるなどといわれているが，ガと呼ばれているものの中にいろいろなタイプの種がいて，これらの区別はたいへんあいまいである。昼間飛ぶのがチョウbutterfly，夜活動するのがガmothと，違ったことばを使っているのは日本語や英語だが，ドイツ語では両者をいっしょにしたFalter(あるいはSchmetterlinge)という単語があり，チョウはTagfalter(昼のチョウ)，ガはNachtfalter(夜のチョウ)と呼ぶし，フランス語ではpapillonといえばチョウを指し，papillon de nuitとすれば，ドイツ語と同じようにガの意味になる。
［分類と種類］
　最近では，学問的に根拠のうすいチョウ類とガ類に大別する分類法は排除され，鱗翅目は次の2亜目に大別されている。…

【チョウ(蝶)】より

…たとえば翅を開いてとまるチョウも少なくないし，昼間飛び回り花のみつを吸いにくるガも多い。両者を区別しようとする傾向は国民性による思考の差で，英語には別々の単語があるが，ドイツ語やフランス語には共通の単語(ドイツ語はFalter，フランス語はpapillon)に〈昼の〉または〈夜の〉という形容詞がつくだけで固有の単語はない。元来鱗翅目として共通する形質をもつ一元的な系統の中に昼間にだけ活動する一群(チョウ)が生じたが，他の多くの系統(ガ)と本質的に違うまでにはなっていないのが両者の関係である。…

※「Falter」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について | 情報

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