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Facts on Scientific Names of Organisms

Posted by michael on from the geek-out dept.

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."

15 of 113 comments (clear)

  1. Decapitans by Baldrson · · Score: 5, Interesting
    From chapter 4, "Arms Races and Manipulation" of "The Extended Phenotype" by Richard Dawkins:
    "Several species of ant have no workers of their own. The queens invade nests of other species, dispose of the host queen, and use the host workers to bring up their own reproductive young. The method of disposing of the queen varies. In some species, such as the descriptively named Bothriomyrmex regicidus and B. decapitans, the parasite queen rides about on the back of the host queen and then, in Wilson's (1971) delightful description, 'begins the one act for which she is uniquely specialized: slowly cutting off the head of her victim' (p. 363)."
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  2. Scientists and Subproverbial Proverbs by mfh · · Score: 5, Interesting
    My favs:

    1. Ba Humbugi (endodontoid snail) from Mba island, Fiji.
    2. Eubetia Bigaulae (tortricid moth, pronounced You betcha, by golly)
    3. Pieza Kake, Pieza Pi, Pieza Rhea (mythicomyiid fly)
    4. Strategus Longichomperus (Honduran scarab with elongated mandibles)
    5. Ytu Brutus (water beetle)
    6. Andromeda L., 1753 (wild rosemary) or Andromeda Gistel, 1834 (bupestrid beetle), and then there's Andromeda roddenberrus
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  3. Re:Heres one by daniil · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Shouldn't Nerdilius be the genus and Slashdotius the species, not the other way around?

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  4. The Gary Larson Bug by Class+Act+Dynamo · · Score: 1, Interesting

    "Far Side" cartoonist Gary Larson had a bug named after him when one of his fans discovered it. It is a species of louse called . I miss Larson's cartoons, as well as Bill Waterson's since I am being nostalgic.

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    1. Re:The Gary Larson Bug by Class+Act+Dynamo · · Score: 5, Interesting

      There is a reason one should preview his or her posts. Here is what I meant to post:

      "Far Side" cartoonist Gary Larson had a bug named after him when one of his fans discovered it. It is a species of louse called Strigiphilus garylarsoni. I miss Larson's cartoons, as well as Bill Waterson's since I am being nostalgic.

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      My other computer is a Jacquard loom.
  5. Bill Gates' bug -- did you know ? by dapyx · · Score: 4, Interesting
    A bug (a real one - actually a Flower Fly) was named after Bill Gates. (named "Eristalis gatesi")

    See: http://www.sel.barc.usda.gov/diptera/syrphid/gates .htm

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  6. Kinda reminds me of... by MadFarmAnimalz · · Score: 5, Interesting

    this

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  7. How about diseases? by InternationalCow · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Delightful post! The /. crowd that is interested in taxonomy might also be interested to know that some diseases have rather funny names as well. For instance, there is an annoying itching skin disease called "lichen planus", meaning flat moss. It can also be lichen ruber - red moss. A particular congenital disorder is known as CATCH22. Moebius is also the name of a syndrome. Or, perhaps better known, "syphilis" which means fond of pigs (because people felt that affected patients had behaved like pigs?). For more fun medical terms, see for instance here and, completely off topic but funny nonetheless, here for mistakes made with medical terms.

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  8. I fail to see how this is news by daniil · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Leaving that aside, one of the things i've found curious is how none of the three known species of vampire bats are called vampyrus or Vampyrum. Of those that are, none feed on blood. It's quite funny how far superstition can sometimes go :7

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    Man is a slave because freedom is difficult, whereas slavery is easy.
    1. Re:I fail to see how this is news by the+idoru · · Score: 3, Interesting

      On a similar vein is Vampyroteuthis infernalis, the "vampire squid form hell." Named such because of its red body and black, capelike tentacles. Add to that large, creepy eyes and the fact that it lives in very deep water and is thus rarely seen, and it's a creature ripe for superstition.

  9. Dinosaurs of rock by d0n+quix0te · · Score: 4, Interesting

    My favorite Masiakasaurus knopfleri. Named after Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits.

  10. Lewis Carol by d0n+quix0te · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Charles Lutwidge Dodgson got his pseudonym from his latin name. Charles Lutwidge = Carolus Lewis = Lewis Carol.

  11. Cigaretticus Brandus Idioticus by DoraLives · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Interesting species.

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  12. Nessiteras rhombopteryx by alanw · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Nessiteras rhombopteryx (Loch Ness monster) This proposed name is not a valid scientific name because there is no type specimen to go with it.
    It is interesting to note that this is an anagram of "Monster Hoax by Sir Peter S". The name was proposed by Sir Peter Scott
  13. True story about Vitamin C by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting
    Quoting from "Bires Chandra Guha - Father of modern biochemistry in India"

    :

    In 1927, Szent-Györgyi, a Hungarian scientist, came to work in Hopkins' laboratory for a short period on a problem with quite a different objective: isolation of a redox substance present in animal and plant tissues. The discovery of vitamin C by Szent-Györgyi was accidental. While extracting and concentrating some redox compound from ox adrenal glands, he isolated some sugar-like crystals about which he was quite ignorant. One would realize this from the title of his paper: 'Observation on the function of peroxidase systems and the chemistry of the adrenal cortex: Description of a new carbohydrate derivative', published in Biochem. J. 14. He was so ignorant of the nature of the carbohydrate derivative that he first named it ignose (ign for ignorance and ose for sugar) and later godnose (God knows). But the editor of the Biochemical Journal objected. Very quickly the structure of the carbohydrate was elucidated in collaboration with Haworth at Birmingham (arranged by Hopkins) and the alternative name given was hexuronic acid (hex = six). During the same period (1928-1931), Charles Glen King of the Columbia University of USA isolated vitamin C from lemon juice and it was observed that hexuronic acid and vitamin C were identical. Szent-Györgyi had no idea that hexuronic acid might turn out to be a vitamin. It is ironical that Szent-Györgyi isolated vitamin C without doing a single animal experiment. In the words of Szent-Györgyi himself: 'I was not acquainted with animal tests in this field and the whole problem was, for me too glamorous, and vitamins were, to my mind, theoretically uninteresting. Vitamin means that one has to eat it. What one has to eat is the first concern of the chef, not the scientist'. In any case, Szent-Györgyi received the Nobel Prize in 1937 for his discoveries concerning biological oxidation processes with reference to vitamin C.
    Szent-Györgyi documents the episode in the essay "Lost in the Twentieth Century," which is in Volume 32 of the Annual Review of Biochemistry, and dates from 1963.