interesting scientific names

Chlidonias

Chlidonias

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an exchange on one of the photo threads inspired me to start up this thread. The following website catalogues scientific ("Latin") names that are amusing for one reason or another. I thought it may be interesting to many of the members on here. (Many of the examples on the site were provided by myself :))
Curiosities of Biological Nomenclature
Enjoy
 
There are also cases where the scientific and common names of different species are confusingly similar, or the same:

Atlantic puffin Fratercula arctica
Manx shearwater Puffinus puffinus

Fosa (previously fossa) Cryproprocta ferox
Fanaloka Fossa fossana
 
Very interesting thread; for my a lot of the Latin names have sense ,because my mother language (Spanish) comes directly from Latin, and some words have sense, in Spanish or Catalan (another mother language for me) e.g. :

Fratercula the prefix "Frater" in Spanish have two main meanings: 'brother', like in 'brotherhood', but friar too, (and consequently the Spanish name for the puffins (Fratercula Genus) are "frailecillos" or in a literal translation to English...small friars. :D

Another example I've always been very graphic:

(Loxodonta africana) , or "long teeth" from Africa; really explicative and funny.:p
 
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The very first scientific name ever given to a dinosaur was Scrotum humanum. Later this fossil was identified as a Megalosaurus, although the first name should be considered valid.:)
 
I cracked up at Agra vation. I thought that's what zoo keepers call annoying zoo visitors. ;) Then there's Lynx lynx, Hyena hyena and Gekko gecko :D
 
Not forgetting Gorilla gorilla!

Or perhaps the Northern Eurasian Badger: Meles meles meles. :D
 
(Anser anser anser)- Western greylag goose
(Apus apus ) -Common swift
(Porphyrio porphyrio porphyrio) - Purple swanphen
(Rattus rattus ) -black? or roof? rat
(Vulpes vulpes vulpes) -red fox
 
EvilKittie said:
gorilla gorilla - lowland gorilla and gorilla gorilla gorilla - western lowland gorilla ^^
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Pedant mode - Gorilla gorilla as a species is the Western Gorilla.

The Eastern Lowland Gorilla (Gorilla beringei graueri) belongs to a different species.


I agree with Hix - Upupa epops is brilliant.

The frustrating ones are those that need very precise typography - such as Colias (butterfly) and Colius (mousebird).
 
Actually, Chlidonias' link above has reminded me of my other favourite - the kingfisher genera Alcedo, Dacelo and Lacedo.

'Alcedo' is a Latinised form of the Greek for 'kingfisher' - the other two are meaningless - they are just anagrams of Alcedo.
 
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Maguari said:
Actually, Chlidonias' link above has reminded me of my other favourite - the kingfisher genera Alcedo, Dacelo and Lacedo.

'Alcedo' is a Latinised form of the Greek for 'kingfisher' - the other two they are meaningless - are just anagrams of Alcedo.
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similar thing with Daption - its an anagram of one of the common names, "pintado"
 
because you're childish?.... or do you not know what Bugeranus derives from?
 
I love latin names, my favorite is Skunk Mephitis mephitis- poisonous gas! Its obvious how the skunk got its name but how the hell did the Blue whale get Musculus??? I think all animal books should explore the latin names and how they got them.

Pronunciation always gets me though,

we could start another thread on how to say common names even like turaco, is it tur-Aaco or tUuur-aco lol, you say tomato....... :)
 
Vulpes said:
Its obvious how the skunk got its name but how the hell did the Blue whale get Musculus???
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the blue whale was named by Linnaeus in 1758 and as per usual he did not give a reason for the name (nowadays when describing new species the etymology of the scientific name is always given in the formal description). Musculus is a diminutive of Latin mus "mouse" and Linnaeus may have been intending an ironic meaning, or have even been indulging in a bit of word-play with regards to the whale's size and strength (the word "muscle" also derives from mus, likening the movements of muscles to those of mice under the skin). Another suggestion is that Linnaeus was (perhaps erroneously) attributing to it the name of a fish said to be fed upon by the whale, and that it had nothing to do with mice at all.
 
Vulpes said:
I think all animal books should explore the latin names and how they got them.
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There is a trio of books written by A. F. Gotch:-

• Mammals – Their Latin Names Explained (1979)
• Birds – Their Latin Names Explained (1981)
• Reptiles – Their Latin Names Explained (1986)

A much better book for bird names is A Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names (Jobling; 1991)

There is also the excellent The Eponym Dictionary of Mammals (Beolens, Watkins & Grayson; 2009) which provides information about people (e.g. Grevy, Thomson, Przewalski etc) who had mammals named after them.
 
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Vulpes said:
Pronunciation always gets me though,
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In the end, the words and syllables in scientific names are not being used in the context of their own languages, so as long as you vaguely follow the letters so that it's recognisable the exact pronunciation doesn't matter too much.
 
I've used the Gotch mammal book for my podcast where I actually try and pronounce the Latin names. Some are just awful to say. Best bet is to get a Greek and a Latin dictionary. Worst I have had to say yet was Hylochoerus meinerthzagani.
 
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