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Iduna von Keyserling & Blasius, 1840 (1 Viewer)

James Jobling

Well-known member
England
Iduna von Keyserling & Blasius, 1840. Raul Mohedano has emailed me to suggest a very plausible origin from the Norse sagas for this generic name. Iðunn or Iduna was the goddess of spring and rejuvenation, who was changed into a sparrow to enable her rescue by Loki, in falcon form, from the giant Þjazi or Thiassi. I wonder how many other mythological names, obscure and otherwise, are lurking out there?
 
In Sweden (as well as in the rest of the Nordic countries) the Mythological, viking Godess Idun (Old Norse; Iðunn), is quite a well-known character, wife of Brage (Bragi, the God of Poetry) ... she is also is known as the Godess of (eternal) youth.

If connected to von Keyserling's & Blasius's Iduna is beyond my knowledge.

But not unlikely! See here, for the invalid (Crustacean) Generic name "Iduna" (there listed in "Amhipoda", today in Philiantidae), listed as a synonym for "Icridium":
Iduna, A. Boeck, 1860. In Scandinavian mythology a nymph who kept the golden apples for the rejuvenescence of the gods. Preoccupied for a bird, in 1840, by Keyserling and Blasius. ...
 
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