Posted on 10/27/2025 11:18:24 AM PDT by Red Badger
A new species of butterfly has just been named after Iryna Zarutska, the Ukrainian refugee who was brutally murdered on the Charlotte, NC light rail in August.
The butterfly is very beautiful and has been officially named “Iryna’s Azure.”
Take a look:
Matt Van Swol @matt_vanswol · Follow 🚨#BREAKING: A scientist who discovered a new species of butterfly has named it after Iryna Zarutska to ensure "she is never forgotten."
The scientist said, "Her name will be forever immortalized as a butterfly..."
The butterfly is called "Iryna's Azure."
🚨WOW! A scientist has just named a newly-discovered butterfly species after Iryna Zarutska, so she will forever be remembered
It’s called: “Iryna’s Azure,” derived from the “Greek Goddess of peace”
The butterfly was found in South Carolina
“This will outlast most other tributes because it’s a living organism. Her name will be immortalized as a butterfly.” – Harry Pavulaan
We’ll never forget Iryna.
The scientist who named the butterfly, Harry Pavulaan, said that he found Iryna’s story heartbreaking and was inspired to name the species after her so that she would never be forgotten.
ABC News has more:
“This will outlast most other tributes because it’s a living organism. Her name will be immortalized as a butterfly,” Harry Pavulaan, the president and director of the International Lepidoptera Survey who named the insect after Zarutska, told ABC News on Friday.
Zarutska was fatally stabbed on Aug. 22 just before 10 p.m. while riding the Blue Lynx Line in Charlotte, according to an affidavit obtained by ABC News.
The butterfly, called Iryna’s Azure, primarily flies in April in South Carolina, and features light blue wings on its dorsal — or top — side, but can also have “a distinct violet-blue tint,” according to the Pavulaan’s report, which was published in September.
The insect was first spotted in South Carolina back in 1985 by another researcher, Ronald Gatrelle, but it had not been officially named, Pavulaan noted. So in 2018, Pavulaan traveled to South Carolina, collected a series of butterflies and examined the specimens, he told ABC News.
After several years of research, Pavulaan and his reviewer determined the insect to be the “first known hybrid introgression” for the Azure butterflies, he said.
Pavulaan already had determined a name for the winged-creature, but when he saw the videos spreading online of Zarutska’s death, he said he decided to expedite the paper and name it after her.
“When I saw the story break … I’m 70 years old and I’m still driven to tears,” Pavulaan told ABC News.
What a cool and thoughtful way to preserve the memory of someone whose life was tragically cut far too short.
Gelson Luz @gelsonluz · Follow Replying to @matt_vanswol I think it's wonderful that a name can become part of the natural world like that. It feels so much more permanent and beautiful than just a stone marker. It's a lovely gesture that truly honors a life. 6:42 PM · Oct 26, 2025
Rest in Peace, Iryna.
You will never be forgotten.
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Jim
Beautiful. I hope they name some horrible insect after the black guy who murdered her.
That would be an insult to the insects....................
Well, yeah, I guess. Isn’t there some Porta-Potty we can put stickers on? Like those Biden “I Did That” stickers we used to put on fuel pumps, should be something out on the internet that can be used.
The newly-discovered SC butterfly species is named after the
murdered beauty, Iryna Zarutska; she will forever be remembered
“Iryna’s Azure,” is derived from the “Greek Goddess of peace”
Put his name on a Death Certificate and I’m fine with that.................
“Isn’t there some Porta-Potty we can put stickers on? Like those Biden ‘I Did That’ stickers”
We put those stickers on the inside of the kitty litter boxes. His finger points down toward the turds.
Any kind of wasp would work.
They are ALWAYS pissed without anybody doing anything to them.
I was gonna write toe-tag, yours is better.
Send him to Jesus yesterday.
I want his name forgotten. Not what he was; that should be remembered.
🦋 👼
God rest her soul!!
Ashli Babbitt Would have been a good choice as well.
Michael Byrd is still a free man.
According to Wikipedia the Capitol police “...deemed the shooting [of Babbitt] was “lawful and within Department policy and potentially saved Members (of Congress) and staff from serious injury and possible death”.
That’s just beautiful. Especially since butterflies are regarded as symbols of the resurrection of the dead to new life. Rest in peace, Iryna (whose name is derived from the Greek word for “peace”)
Better yet. Hopefully he’ll get his just due with prison justice.
That's right. It's where we get the name "Irene" and our English word "irenic" ("peaceful")
Yes this!!!
I got you covered: It lurks beneath any outhouse.
Well here’s hoping that if he does not get the death penalty, he’ll be housed with Bubba who doesn’t like people killing women.
Should stick him there for life, then bury him there.
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