tlalxiquipilli.

Headword:

tlalxiquipilli.

Principal English Translation:

cod; or, a poisonous beetle (see Molina)

IPAspelling:

tɬɑːlʃikipilli

Alonso de Molina:

tlalxiquipilli. abadejo, escarauajo ponzoñoso.
Alonso de Molina, Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana y mexicana y castellana, 1571, part 2, Nahuatl to Spanish, f. 125r. col. 1. Thanks to Joe Campbell for providing the transcription.

Attestations from sources in English:

One wonders whether the construction, tlalli (land) + xiquipilli (a bag or sack), refers to the beetle's appearance: "The back is rounded, ball-like; the neck slender, constricted; the nose has hair, or horns. The jaws are pointed. It has long legs. It is black, like bitumen. And this small insect lives only in the summer; it is not rare." General History of the Things of New Spain, 1963, p. 91.

The tlalxiquipilli, a deadly poisonous black beetle, is described on f. 96v and pictured on f. 97r. of the Digital Florentine Codex.
Digital Florentine Codex/Códice Florentino Digital, edited by Kim N. Richter and Alicia Maria Houtrouw, "Book 11: Earthly Things", fol. 97r, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/11/folio/97r/images/0 Accessed 4 November 2025.

themes:

Animals, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, Fish, etc.