{{For, the grass moth genus, Pyrausta (moth)
Pyrausta or pyrallis (πυραλλίς) (also called in Greek pyrigonos) is a
mythological
Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...
insect from
Cyprus
Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...
. It is a four-legged insect with filmy wings. It lived in the fire like a
salamander
Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by their lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All t ...
and died if it went away from the fire.
Janssens identifies it with the
Melanophila acuminata
''Melanophila acuminata'', known generally as the black fire beetle or fire bug, is a species of metallic wood-boring beetle in the family Buprestidae. It is found in the Caribbean, Europe and Northern Asia (excluding China), Central America, Nor ...
.
See also
*
Salamanders in folklore
The salamander is an amphibian of the order Urodela which once, like many real creatures, often was suppositiously ascribed fantastic and sometimes occult qualities by pre-modern authors, as in the allegorical descriptions of animals in medieval ...
*
Dragons in Greek mythology
Dragons play a significant role in Greek mythology. Though the Greek ''drakōn'' often differs from the modern Western conception of a dragon, it is both the etymological origin of the modern term and the source of many surviving Indo-European my ...
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder ( ), was a Roman Empire, Roman author, Natural history, naturalist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the Roman emperor, emperor Vesp ...
Book 11, Chapter 42 ; the Latin text reads ''pyral(l)is'' and either ''pyrausta'' or ''pyrotocon''.
* Aelian, ''On the nature of animals'' 2, 2 : ''pyrigonos''.
* Em. Janssens, "Le « pyrotocon » de Pline l'Ancien", ''Latomus'', 9, fasc. 3 (juillet-septembre 1950), pp. 283-286 (Société d'Études Latines de Bruxelles).
Dragons in Greek mythologyGreek legendary creaturesMythological insects