Facts on Scientific Names of Organisms

Ant writes "From my ant message board thread (trying to pick names related to ants for World of Warcraft), Myrmecos mentioned Curiosities of Biological Nomenclature that lists scientific names of organisms are not usually known for their entertainment value. They are indispensable for clarity in communication, but most people skip over them with barely a glance. Mark Isaak, the author, collected those names that are worth a second look. Some names are interesting for what they are named after (for example, Arthurdactylus conandoylensis, Godzillius), some are puns (La cucaracha, Phthiria relativitae), and some show other kinds of wordplay (such as the palindromic Orizabus subaziro). Some have achieved notability through accident of history, and many show the sense of humor of taxonomists."

Comments

I just discovered a new one!~

[Anonymous Coward]

Firstus Postus

Molusc genus

[ralmeida]

My favourite one is on the site:

Piseinotecus divae Er. Marcus, 1955 (gastropod) "Piseinotecus" means "I stepped on Teco." ( in portuguese) Teco was a dog belonging to a diva. One of the Marcuses (Evelyne or Ernst) stepped on the dog on the way to the kitchen in the middle of the night.

Mineral/rock naming is pretty fun too

[qdaku]

I do geological engineering so I am forced to learn all sorts of terrible rock and mineral names. The rock names are much better.. they usually adhere to a couple of "accepted" standards (e.g. the igneous rock triangle). There is no standard for mineral naming, whoever found it can name it, or its just been something carried over through the years. No sense at all. The funny one I know is buried in the amphiboles (garbage rock, lots of substituition going on) theres a particulary amphibole called "Cummingtonite". Who knows what was going on when that one was named.. but I wouldn't want to touch the doorknobs.

Why?

[Prince Vegeta SSJ4]

Is it blue and randomly crash into things?