''Aliboron'' is a genus of

beetle Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...

s in the family

Cerambycidae The longhorn beetles (Cerambycidae), also known as long-horned or longicorns (whose larvae are often referred to as roundheaded borers), are a large family of beetles, with over 35,000 species described. Most species are characterized by anten ...

, containing the following species: * '' Aliboron antennatum'' J. Thomson, 1864 * '' Aliboron bukidnoni'' Vives, 2005 * '' Aliboron granulatum'' Breuning, 1966 * '' Aliboron laosense'' Breuning, 1968 * '' Aliboron wongi'' Hüdepohl, 1987

Etymology

The genus was named by James Thomson in 1864; the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

is '' Aliboron antennatum''. The name ''Aliboron'' is that of the

donkey The donkey or ass is a domesticated equine. It derives from the African wild ass, ''Equus africanus'', and may be classified either as a subspecies thereof, ''Equus africanus asinus'', or as a separate species, ''Equus asinus''. It was domes ...

La Fontaine Jean de La Fontaine (, ; ; 8 July 162113 April 1695) was a French fabulist and one of the most widely read French poets of the 17th century. He is known above all for his ''Fables'', which provided a model for subsequent fabulists across Euro ...

fable Fable is a literary genre defined as a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized, and that illustrates or leads to a parti ...

" The thieves and the ass" (''Les voleurs et l’âne'', I.13); from La Fontaine the word ''aliboron'' entered French as a generic name for a donkey (compare ''

Reynard Reynard the Fox is a list of literary cycles, literary cycle of medieval allegorical Folklore of the Low Countries, Dutch, English folklore, English, French folklore, French and German folklore, German fables. The first extant versions of the cy ...

''). The name "Maistre Aliboron" for an ass has been suggested to originate from: *

black hellebore ''Helleborus niger'', commonly called Christmas rose or black hellebore, is an evergreen Perennial plant, perennial flowering plant in the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae. It is one of about 20 species from the genus Hellebore. It is a poisonous ...

, used in medicines, thus perhaps for

panacea In Greek mythology and religion, Panacea (Greek ''Πανάκεια'', Panakeia), a goddess of universal remedy, was the daughter of Asclepius and Epione. Mythology Panacea and her four sisters each performed a facet of Apollo's art: * Panac ...

s, and thus perhaps for (quack) doctors; *

Al-Biruni Abu Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni (; ; 973after 1050), known as al-Biruni, was a Khwarazmian Iranian scholar and polymath during the Islamic Golden Age. He has been called variously "Father of Comparative Religion", "Father of modern ...

(973–1048), a Persian philosopher; * the Latin phrase ''magister aliborum'', "master of

alibi An alibi (, from the Latin, '' alibī'', meaning "somewhere else") is a statement by a person under suspicion in a crime that they were in a different place when the offence was committed. During a police investigation, all suspects are usually a ...

s." In 1910,

Roland Dorgelès Roland Dorgelès (; 15 June 1885 – 18 March 1973) was a French novelist and a member of the Académie Goncourt. Born in Amiens, Somme, under the name Roland Lecavelé (he adopted the pen name Dorgelès to commemorate visits to the spa town of ...

tied a paintbrush to a donkey's tail and exhibited the resulting artwork at the

Société des Artistes Indépendants The Société des Artistes Indépendants (, ''Society of Independent Artists'') or Salon des Indépendants was formed in Paris on 29 July 1884. The association began with the organization of massive exhibitions in Paris, choosing the slogan "''sa ...

under the name Boronali (an anagram of "Aliboron").

References

Agapanthiini {{Agapanthiini-stub