atala
noun
ata·la ə-ˈtä-lə 
plural atalas
: a brightly colored hairstreak butterfly (Eumaeus atala) native to southeastern Florida and the West Indies that is black with three rows of iridescent blue spots on the hind wings and a red spot on the abdomen
Once feared extinct in Florida, the atala butterfly has been rescued by a native plant—the coontie. 
National Geographic, July 1996
National Geographic, July 1996Looking closely, we also found patches of atala eggs as well as the brilliantly colored red and yellow caterpillars. Georgia Tasker, Miami Herald, 1 Oct. 2006
Georgia Tasker, Miami Herald, 1 Oct. 2006
Word History
Etymology
borrowed from New Latin, specific epithet of Eumaeus atala, probably after Atala, heroine of the short novel Atala, ou Les Amours de deux sauvages dans le désert (1801) by the French writer François-René de Chateaubriand †1848
Note: Named by the Cuban zoologist Felipe Poey y Aloy (1799-1891) in Centurie de Lépidoptères de l'Ile de Cuba, I-IIe. Décade (Paris: Mercklein, 1832), pp. [31-33]. Though Poey gives the sources of the specific names he proposes for a number of other species in the study, he does not trace this one—perhaps because Chateaubriand's novel was so well known at the time that an allusion was unnecessary.
First Known Use
1875, in the meaning defined above
- lord commissioner
- lord commissioner of admiralty
- lord commissioner of the treasury
- Lord Fauntleroy
- lord great chamberlain of England
- Lord Harry
- lord help
- lord help someone
- lord high admiral
- lord high almoner of England
- lord high chancellor
- lord high commissioner
- lord high constable
- lord high steward
- lord high treasurer of England
- Lord Howe Island
- lord it over
- lord justice
- lord justice clerk
- lord justice clerks
- lord justice general
- lord justice of appeal
- lord justices general
- lord keeper of the great seal
- lord keeper of the privy seal