Most Fun Scientific Names

Thanks Chli, I can see the "manes" or crests in all these animals (the one that I don't knew is the cheetah, I was assuming something aboit the dorsal hair of the adult), just these really have not much reasons to be called a mane, being much smaller and almost unnoticeable than, for example, a lion mane.
Well, in the case of sealions, I don't know. I always assumed that the thick neck of males are just neck flesh. Are you meaning that all this volume is actually hair? A shaved male sea lion would looks like thin-necked?
 
Kakapo said:
Thanks Chli, I can see the "manes" or crests in all these animals (the one that I don't knew is the cheetah, I was assuming something aboit the dorsal hair of the adult), just these really have not much reasons to be called a mane, being much smaller and almost unnoticeable than, for example, a lion mane.
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Why not? A mane is just an area of longer hair. It's irrelevent if it is smaller than a lion's mane. That's like saying an willow can't be called a tree because it isn't as big as a sequoia. Lions have manes but so do horses, and even human hair can be termed a mane.

Kakapo said:
Well, in the case of sealions, I don't know. I always assumed that the thick neck of males are just neck flesh. Are you meaning that all this volume is actually hair? A shaved male sea lion would looks like thin-necked?
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The males have thicker necks than females and a mane.
 
Well, is just that is not the image that I had in my mind of a mane. Humans have a mane, for sure, much more than the sea lions, orinoco geese and Bronchocela lizards.
 
Well, the child in me quite likes the Spermophilus genus. But even better is Anophthalmus hitleri, a species of a blind cave bettle, that only lives in five humid caves in Slovenia. A specimen was found in 1933 by a German biologist, who decided to name the beetle after Hitler, who had recently become Chancellor of Germany. Hitler even sent the guy a letter expressing his gratitude. Nowadays, it is at danger of extinction, mostly because of collectors of Hitler memorabilia, who desperately want to have one of these guys.
 
Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus (yellow head, yellow head), and, Poliocephalus poliocephalus (grey head, grey head).
 
Vision said:
Probably a popular opinion, but I quite like Crikey steveirwini :D
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Thank you for teaching me of this amazing name!

NVP said:
Even though it's a fungus, I do find it amusing that they named one after SpongeBob: Spongiforma squarepantsii.
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This was the first name that came to mind when I saw this thread.

Cassidy Casuar said:
Nipponia nippon; the most Japanese scientific name there is.
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Although it's not "as Japanese" as this ibis, you may or may not be aware there is a Nipponosaurus.

Now it's my turn:
  • Species Dracorex hogwartsia (May be synonymous with Pachycephalosaurus wyomingensis)
  • Genus Gojirasaurus (Now considered dubious)
  • Genus Thanos (This does put a smile on my face)
  • Species Aha ha
  • Species Ba humbugi
  • Species Kamera lens (A unicellular organism)
  • Genus Xenomorphia (In Paleogene France, no one can hear you scream)
  • Genus Wunderpus
  • Genus Galagadon (I may be Gen Z but I still like 80s references)
  • Genus Obamadon
  • Species Ricinus vaderi
  • Species Tianchisaurus nedegoapeferima (species epithet is formed from the surnames of Jurassic Park's main stars: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Bob Peck, Martin Ferrero, Ariana Richards, and Joseph Mazzello)
 
I've always found the Latin / scientific name for the black bearded saki monkey to be quite funny , Pithecia satanas, because it makes a specific cultural reference to the fictional Biblical character Satan.

I have no idea who gave the monkey this scientific name but I always imagine some kind of prudish god fearing Georgian or Victorian naturalist who seeing the species with its bowl haircut , "beard", and very prominent testicles/ sexual organs was horrified by this "diabolic" South American primate.

I wonder just what was going through that persons mind when they first saw it, very amusing to think about.
 
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Many Koreans who grew up watching Pokémon Anime series laugh when they hear this name. "Pica pica". It is the most common bird in Korea with Rock doves and sparrows. So when I go out of the house, I can see them almost every time.

But sadly, the Pica pica in korea was classified as a separate species named "Pica serica" in 2018. So the magpie that I can see near my house is no longer Pica Pica.

To write about one thing that only Koreans laughing, "Mola mola" too. Mola mola is the same pronunciation as Korean "몰라 몰라", which means "I don’t know, I don’t know".
 
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I think the four-horned antelope's scientific name could be better:

Tetracerus (four-horned) quadricornis (four-horned)
 
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