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."

I just discovered a new one!~

[Anonymous Coward]

Firstus Postus

Re:I just discovered a new one!~

[aicrules]

Unfortunately it was discovered that two other names predated yours and they were found prior to yours entering common use:

lamus posti

and the more common

wastus of timus

My eyes glazed over while reading the link....

Re:I just discovered a new one!~

[Seehund]

Epistula prima?

Slashdot discovers biological nomenclature. "News" for nerds. Film at 11.

The elephant ant.

[JPriest]

Those of you that live in KY or the southern US know what an elephant ant is but for some reason I can't find a single mention of the creatured on the internet. I was thinking they might be listed under the scientiffic name but I don't know it. Anyone know what else elephant ants are called?

Re:Heres one

[ptlis]

I don't think that /.ers have an aversion to women, it's the women who have an aversion to us!

Re:Heres one

[daniil]

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

Re:Heres one

[nwbvt]

Two nitpicks. The species name is always the entire binomial, not just the second word. The second word is referred to as the specific epithet. Also the specific epithet is always lowercase. Come on people, we are nerds. We know case matters.

Re:Heres one

[TFGeditor]

My beard is not greasy, you insensitive clod!

Furthermore, it is not a beard. I didn't grow a beard. I just quit shaving.

Decapitans

[Baldrson]

From chapter 4, "Arms Races and Manipulation" of "The Extended Phenotype [wikipedia.org]" 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)."

Scientists and Subproverbial Proverbs

[mfh]

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 [andromedatv.com]

Re:Scientists and Subproverbial Proverbs

[syrinje]

Surely you meant "Strategus Longihornus" - the still evolving pacific north-east dung beetle with overgrown greed glands.

Re:Scientists and Subproverbial Proverbs

[mfh]

Surely you meant "Strategus Longihornus" - the still evolving pacific north-east dung beetle with overgrown greed glands.

Nope [nhm.org].

Re:Scientists and Subproverbial Proverbs

[syrinje]

Errr......ahem.

Wasn't really doubting correctness of your post - read my previous comment with humour filters on -
the "pacific northeast dung beetle with overgrown greed glands" uses Longhorn in its strategy of world dominance ........ :)

Re:Scientists and Subproverbial Proverbs

[mfh]

Wasn't really doubting correctness of your post - read my previous comment with humour filters on -

D'oh!! (quietly goes back to CMS standards evaluation)

Re:Scientists and Subproverbial Proverbs

[sploo22]

Pacific northeast? Wouldn't that have to be Japan?

Re:Scientists and Subproverbial Proverbs

[Temporal]

No.

Re:Scientists and Subproverbial Proverbs

[Vicsun]

I know someone whose Star Wars Galaxies character is called Ayebe Leef-uhafmysta'plr.
How long until they name some beetle or other after him? =)

Re:Scientists and Subproverbial Proverbs

[nwbvt]

Not to sound like a nitpicking asshole...

What would happen if a biologist came here complaining the command "Vi /Etc/X11/Xorg.Conf" didn't work on his Linux box? Yeah, thats right. Biological nomenclature is case sensitive as well.

Re:Scientists and Subproverbial Proverbs

[toxcspdrmn]

I mentioned this in a comment [slashdot.org] on a previous story but nobody took much notice then.

The form of a Linnaean binomial is:

Genus species Surname (year)

Where Surname is the name of the person who coined the name. In the case of Linneaus this is usually abbreviated to L.

Re:Scientists and Subproverbial Proverbs

[nwbvt]

::Ponders correcting the misconception that the second word in the binomial is called the species name::

Re:Scientists and Subproverbial Proverbs

[toxcspdrmn]

Well - I guess you just answered your own question :-)

Okay - I'll bite for the benefit of the non-biologists (and yes - IAAB).

The second word is more correctly the "specific" or "trivial" epithet. I used "species" in my post to make the point that the generic and specific epithets are always single words.

In other words, not only is the binomial system case sensitive, but it uses spaces only to separate epithets. Also it is font sensitive (I might have my terminology wrong here) in that only generic, subg

Re:Scientists and Subproverbial Proverbs

[nwbvt]

The reason it is incorrect to refer to the specific epithet as a species name is that the species name is the entire scientific name, or both the genus and the specific epithet.

Re:Scientists and Subproverbial Proverbs

[belmolis]

My highschool biology teacher taught us:

Kangaroo pouches can offer fuzzy gorillas stomach vibrations.

Re:Scientists and Subproverbial Proverbs

[joejor]

Kings Play Chess On Fat Girls' Stomachs

Re:Scientists and Subproverbial Proverbs

[DzugZug]

My personal favorite is the genus of Molusk, "Tamu" which was named by the genus' discoverer, a professor at Texas A&M University.

Re:Scientists and Subproverbial Proverbs

[the original m0nk]

you know, i got a better laugh from this post than TFA.

the best part of TFA was copied nearly verbatim for the summary posted here. the rest of TFA was no BFD.

got any more of those, mfh? :)

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.

Flies anyone?

[6th time lucky]

Well Piseinotecus was a very funny one, but i spat my chips and the monitor with Brachyanax thelestrephones...

Greek for "little chief nipple twister"

If i could get an image of one it would be my new wallpaper (google is not my friend)...

The Gary Larson Bug

[Class Act Dynamo]

"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.

Re:The Gary Larson Bug

[Class Act Dynamo]

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.

Re:The Gary Larson Bug

[lazybeam]

My girlfriend bought me the complete far side but she won't let me look at it until christmas. :(

Gary Larson is teh funny

[zogger]

He rocks, that's some amazing funny stuff he comes up with. It's where I got my meatspace nickname zog and my various nethandles based on that way back when. Went to a big outdoor halloween party as zog the intellectual caveman, was a tossup between zog or thag. My fav was zog chisels out this ferrari made out of stone, then goes "drat, now I have to invent the wheel!". Another one, all these cave dudes are sitting around a fire, they have bloody pieces of meat in their hands, holding them over the fire to

Re:The Gary Larson Bug (Link w/pic)

[RedCard]

"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

Here's a link, with pic, of the bug in question: Strigiphilus garylarsoni [aol.com]
And, because the first link is on an AOL user's page: Google cache of Link [64.233.161.104]

Bill Gates' bug -- did you know ?

[dapyx]

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 [usda.gov]

Re:Bill Gates' bug -- did you know ?

[node 3]

A bug (a real one - actually a Flower Fly) was named after Bill Gates.

I'm truly torn. I'm either jealous that the son of a bitch got a fly named after him, or I'm rather pleased that there's some lowly, disease-ridden swarm of flies sitting atop some dung-heap in Costa Rica bearing his name.

Come to think of it, that's quite similar to his connection with Windows. One could really go either way on that.

Re:Bill Gates' bug -- did you know ?

[mobets]

Or how about the enjoyment you will get from smashing one?

Why?

[Prince Vegeta SSJ4]

Is it blue and randomly crash into things?

Re:Bill Gates' bug -- did you know ?

[silicon-pyro]

19 of every 20 bugs is an Eristalis gatesi.

Kinda reminds me of...

[MadFarmAnimalz]

this [bris.ac.uk]

Thanks for the link

[imsabbel]

Its really cool.
My personal favourite is commingtonite... A perfect example how even strict naming conventions can lead to funny results...

Re:Kinda reminds me of...

[tverbeek]

Windowpane
Windowpane C9H12 gets its name from its resemblance to a set of windows, [it forms a 2x2 grid, reminiscent of a certain OS logo] but unfortunately it has never been synthesised. But the version with a corner carbon missing C8H12 has been made, and goes by the name 'broken windowpane', or more accurately fenestrane.... or more popularly, Microsoft Windowpane.

Kind of like...

[anthony_dipierro]

Eristalis gatesi

The Bill Gates flowerfly [usda.gov].

Ant-related definition: "Formication"

[einhverfr]

You might find this definition [hyperdictionary.com] amusing.

I can imagine someone with a name like "Formicator"

Re:OT: Ants

[Some Bitch]

OK, I've been here too long, I immediately thought this was from Antdude..

It was.

Sometimes the name is very appropriate

[SIGBUS]

As with the common stinkhorn, a mushroom that is known scientifically as Phallus impudicus [agarics.org] .

How about diseases?

[InternationalCow]

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 [funstun.com] and, completely off topic but funny nonetheless, here [thedoctorslounge.net] for mistakes made with medical terms.

Re:How about diseases?

[mrchaotica]

Or, perhaps better known, "syphilis" which means fond of pigs (because people felt that affected patients had behaved like pigs?).

It's probably more likely that the disease was transmitted from farm animals to humans, and being a sexually transmitted disease, well, "fond of pigs" was a euphemism.

The good doctor's opinion of communicable diseases

[Anonymous Coward]

Even as an anonymous coward, I wouldn't insult someone who collects disease names for amusement. The image of an overeducated effeminate yuppie was quickly replaced in my mind as a Hannibal Lector type cooking fava beans. Yes Clarissse... I just found a new friend on Slashdot who shares my interest in viruses, No damnit not Virii, VIRUSES

Surprised this one wasn't on there....

[forkboy]

There's a Salmonella strain called S. mjordan, apparently the person discovering it was a big Michael Jordan fan.

reference: http://www.splammo.net/bact102/102xsal.html (sorry no hard link, /. not parsing the html for some reason)

I fail to see how this is news

[daniil]

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

Re:I fail to see how this is news

[the idoru]

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.

Dinosaurs of rock

[d0n quix0te]

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

Lewis Carol

[d0n quix0te]

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

Cigaretticus Brandus Idioticus

[DoraLives]

Interesting species [ink19.com].

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.

Re:Mineral/rock naming is pretty fun too

[Incadenza]

It was first found in Cummington, USA.

For more funny minerals/molecules names (Arsole, Nonanone, Spamol), there's this silly page [bris.ac.uk]. Has a picture of Cummingtonite as well.

Penguinone!

[6th time lucky]

That silly page lists penguinone... 3,4,4,5-tetramethylcyclohexa-2,5-dienone, with an appropriate molecular structure to suit...

How come I've never seen that mentioned here before?

Python reference

[noims]

Another one named in tribute to comedy:

An extinct python whose remains were found at Riversleigh in Queensland, Australia, was christened "Montypythonoideriversleighensis".

Noims.

Re:Python reference

[ErroneousBee]

It's not extinct, it's just pining for the fjords.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy naming reference

[sidetrack]

There is a fish - found in New Zealands' Fjordland (Milford Sound, and surrounding Fjords), which has been given the name "Fiordichthys slartibartfasti" - after Slartibartfast - the award-winning Fjord designer in Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker books.

http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.cfm ?id=56407 [fishbase.org]

Another good one

[penguinoid]

Although it is not a scientific name, my favorite is Venus's flytrap -- named for its resemblance to a certain part of the female anatomy that most of us here haven't seen yet.

Re:Another good one

[lazybeam]

What are you talking about? We are on the internet, of course we have seen hundreds of THOSE!

skunk

[Whumpsnatz]

common stripped skunk, mephitis mephitis: "smelliest of the smelly." (Or so I've heard).

Nessiteras rhombopteryx

[alanw]

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 [wikipedia.org]

Puffinus Puffinus

[alanw]

My favourite silly scientific name is "Puffinus Puffinus". This is not the Puffin [wikipedia.org], but the unrelated Manx Shearwater [wikipedia.org]. And the more often you type the word "Puffin", the sillier it looks.

Species names as oxymorons

[gordonb]

Of course, my favorite is Homo sapiens.

Some scientific names for dinosaurs.

[Kickasso]

Unix ultrix, U. irix, U. linux, U. berkelensis... U. hpux...

Soil Mites too

[Accursed]

Funkotriplogynium iagobadius Iagobadius, of course, being latin for James Brown, in the genus of Funk.

Sonic Hedgehog Gene

[ajp]

Yes, I realize the article's about scientific names of organisms and Sonic's just a poor little old gene, but who reads the articles anyway? This guy at the U. Washington discovered a quickly changing version of the Hedgehog Gene (Hgg) and thus named it Sonic Hedgehog Gene. The amazing part is that Sega didn't sue. In fact, they were honored. And Sonic the Hedgehog (the Sega one) got to be on the cover of Cell magazine. non wikipedia reference here [nationmaster.com]

ID numbers

[Tablizer]

Maybe it is time to pull a Star Trek and just give them unique numbers (lonis sequentious integerious). It may eliminate spelling errors. But on the other hand, one can usually manually find the right match if there is a spelling error. If you mess up a digit, then there may be no clues to find the proper one. I suppose a check-sum digit could be added, but that only shows that it is wrong without giving much info about what is wrong.

The Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote

[havaloc]

Fastius Tasty-us and Apetitius Giganticus, are among the various latin type names that they get, which varies in every cartoon.

Sometimes it is obvious, but not so obvious

[kbahey]

Peter Forsskål [wikipedia.org] was a Swedish scientist, who was part of the scientific expedition funded by Frederick V of Denmark. The expedition visited Arabia and the Red Sea in the 18th century, Forsskål did a very meticulous and systematic taxonomy of the sea life in that part of the world, including many fish species previously unknown to science.

Forsskål followed a very easy and consistent system, he used the common name in Arabic of the fish as the species name. For example:

• The Greasy or Spot

Middle Earth!

[scaryfish]

Galaxias gollumoides, a type of fresh-water fish from New Zealand. See here [niwa.cri.nz]

I thought it said scientific names for Orgasms

[mrmaster]

Wrong website for that I guess.

True story about Vitamin C

[Anonymous Coward]

Quoting from "Bires Chandra Guha - Father of modern biochemistry in India" [ias.ac.in]

:

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 ignora

see also

[xipho]

http://cache.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html

for a big list