Acinonyx (cheetah) From Gk. akineo (no movement) + onyx (claw), referring to the popular belief that cheetahs have non-retractable claws. This is not true. Cheetahs' claws are fully retractable, but their retracted claws remain exposed because, unlike other cats, they lack a skin sheath to cover them.

Agouti Lacepede, 1799 (paca) Not an agouti.

Alligator (alligator) Misspelling of "El lagarto," Spanish for "the lizard."

Ambrosia (ragweed) Named after the food of the gods, this genus is a major cause of allergies.

Apidium (Early Oligocene primate, from Egypt) The name means "little bull" (from Apis and Mnevis, a pair of bulls mentioned on the Rosetta Stone as being used in Egyptian rites); the fossil was orginally thought to be a hoofed animal.

Apus apus (common swift) From Greek for "footless" (see also Paradisaea apoda below). The swift's feet are small but far from absent.

Arctocephalos pusillus (seal) "Pusillus" means "very little", but the seal grows to about 3 meters and one tonne. The type specimen was a juvenile not recognized as such at the time.

Arrhinoceratops Parks, 1921 (ceratopsian dinosaur) Name means "without a nose horn face". Parks interpreted the fossil as having "no trace of a horn core" nor even a vestige of one. In 1981 Helen Tyson restudied it, stating, "To deny the presence of a horn core in Arrhinoceratops, which ... possesses a distinct horn-like organ, contributes neither to the homology of this structure nor to an accurate characterization of the genus."

Basilosaurus Harlan, 1834 (Eocene whale) Not a "king lizard", and unrelated to dinosaurs. The original misidentified remains of several animals were combined and sent on a tour as a 130-ft. extinct sea serpent. [Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 4: 379-403]

Bufo marinus (cane toad) The toad is adaptable to many habitats, but it is not marine.

Campephilus Gray, 1840 (woodpecker) "Campephilus" means "caterpiller-lover", but ivory-billed woodpeckers (C. principalis), the type species of the genus, fed exclusively on the huge grubs of longhorn wood-boring beetles in trees recently dead but still clad in bark; they never fed on caterpillars.

Campanulotes defectus Tendiero, 1969 (down louse), and

Columbicola extinctus Malcolmson, 1937 (flight-feather louse) Both these lice were reported from the passenger pigeon and were thought to have gone extinct with it, hence their names, but both are still living on other pigeons. C. defectus turned out to be a previously described species C. flavens.

Chaeropus ecaudatus Ogilby, 1838 (pig-footed bandicoot) The name of this extinct marsupial literally means "pig-foot tailless," but it had the longest tail of any bandicoot. It was described from a specimen which had lost its tail, though accounts differ whether the loss happened during the animal's life or during taxidermy.

Crucibulum extinctorium Lamarck 1822 (gastropod) Not extinct.

Dinosauria Owen, 1842 Means "fearfully great lizard" (or, as often quoted, "terrible lizard," but terrible in the sense of "awesome"), but many were small and inoffensive, and none were lizards. It should be noted, however, that there is no Latin word for "reptile," so "saur" had to stand in.

Echidna Forster, 1777 (eel) not an echidna.

Epilachna vigintisexpunctata vigintisexpunctata (28-spotted potato ladybird) "Vigintisexpunctata" means 26-spotted.

Epilachna vigintioctopunctata pardalis (26-spotted potato ladybird). "Vigintioctopunctata" means 28-spotted.

Erithacus komadori (robin) common Japanese name: Akahige; and

Erithacus akahige (robin) common Japanese name: Komadori

Fossa fossa (fanaloka, or Madagascan civet) The civet with the common name "fossa" is Cryptoprocta ferox.

Fregata minor (greater frigate bird) It was originally named Pelecanus minor, the little pelican; when moved to a new genus, priority demanded that it still be called minor. The lesser frigate is F. ariel.

Geosaurus Cuvier, 1824 (Late Jurassic to early Cretaceous marine crocodile) Means "earth lizard", but it was strictly aquatic.

Globicephala macrorhynchus Gray, 1846 (pilot whale) John Gray, working from skeletal materials only, guessed this whale had a large beak, or macrorhynchus in Greek. But the pilot whale's head is quite rounded, suggesting anything but a beak.

Gopherus (desert tortoise) not a gopher.

Gymnosperma (Asteraceae) An angiosperm, not a gymnosperm. (photo)

Inachus scorpio (spider crab) not a scorpion.

Indri indri (indri, a large lemur) The name "indri" comes from a Malagasy exclamation meaning "Look!" French naturalist Pierre Sonnerat mistakenly took this to be the animal's name.

Ixobrychus Billberg, 1828 (dwarf bittern) The name means "mistletoe-roarer". At that time, it was a common belief that bitterns blew into a reed in order to produce their booming call. Billberg was not only mistaken about that, he also confused ixios (reed) with ixos (mistletoe).

Lawsonia inermis (henna) Originally, henna was called by three names, Lawsonia inermis, L. spinosa, and L. alba, referring respectively to a young spineless plant, an adult spiny plant, and a white-flowered variety. When botanists realized that these were the same species, they chose the name inermis ("unarmed") for it, even though henna does have spines.

Leopardus (South American small cat) Not the leopard.

Lepas anatifera Linnaeus, 1767 (goose barnacle) "Anatifera" means "goose bearing". It was once widely believed (from the 1100's until the early 1800's) that barnacle geese (Branta "Anas" leucopsis) grew attached to seaside trees by their beaks and clad in shells before dropping into the sea where they became mature geese. The barnacles' food gathering appendages were supposedly protofeathers. The migratory barnacle geese nest in remote areas well above the Arctic circle, so Europeans filled in the unknown part of the birds life history with this bizarre metamorphosis. This legend may have persisted as long as it did because it permitted goose meat to be eaten during Lent.

Lotus (bird's-foot trefoils and deervetches) legumes with small, rather bland flowers, not the Indian lotus (Nelumbo) or any of several other plants that get called lotus.

Mammut a mastodon, not a mammoth (mammoths are genus Mammuthus).

Megarachne Hunicken, 1980 (fossil terrestrial eurypterid) Named "big spider" based on its interpretation as an enormous Upper Carboniferous therophosid spider, and formerly listed by Guinness as the world's largest spider. It is now shown to be a eurypterid, or sea scorpion.

Miohippus Marsh, 1874 and Pliohippus Marsh, 1874 (fossil horses) These names refer to the Miocene and Pliocene epochs, respectively. However, most Miohippus are found in the Oligocene, and all Pliohippus are from the Miocene. Marsh believed that his Miohippus fossils were from the Miocene, but later work showed him mistaken. Since Pliohippus was first described, the genus was split in two, with the later Pliocene horses reclassified as Dinohippus, and the date of the Pliocene epoch itself has shrunk. Eohippus is still from the Eocene, but it is not the scientific name because Hyracotherium takes prescedence.

Nasturtium (watercress) Not a nasturtium.

Nematodes (false click beetle) Not a nematode.

Neoleptoneta myopica Gertsch (Tooth Cave spider) The name implies near-sightedness, but the spider is blind.

Neomylodon listai Ameghino (ground sloth) Ground sloths were thought to be still extant in South America during the 19th century. Explorer Ramon Lista once shot at an animal which matched a crude description of one. When fresh-appearing dung and swatches of skin complete with reddish-brown fur and dermal ossicles turned up in an Argentinean cave in 1888, the animal was dubbed "Lista's new Mylodon." 20th century carbon dating revealed the hide to be roughly 13,500 years old.

Nephanes titan Newman, 1834 (beetle) This beetle is 0.4mm long.

Ornithocheiroidea (a subgroup of pterosaurs) British palaeontologist Harry Grovier Seely was convinced that pterosaurs were the ancestors of birds, though, after much criticism, he altered his position to birds and pterosaurs having a close common ancestor. Seely bolstered his arguments by making reference to birds whenever he coined the name for a newly described pterosaur: Ornithocheirus ("bird hand"), Ornithostoma ("bird mouth"), Ornithodesmus ("bird link") -- all within the Ornithocheiroidea. Seely even proposed replacing Pterosauria with "Ornithosauria." In 1993, Orintodesmus was recognized as a small theropod dinosaur and renamed Istiodactylus Howse, Milner, & Martill, 2001. Ornithocheirus and Ornithostoma are still valid taxa.

Oviraptor philoceratops Osborn, 1924 (theropod dinosaur) The name means "ceratopsian-loving egg raider" because the first fossil was found with what was thought to be Protoceratops eggs, but the eggs turned out to be its own; most likely, it was guarding its own nest. (Osborn did note that the name could "entirely mislead us as to its feeding habits and belie its character," but he went with the name anyway.)

Pan troglodytes (L.) (chimpanzee) Linnaeus, relying on unreliable stories, named a species Homo troglodytes. It is not entirely certain which species, since he had no type specimen, but it was probably the chimpanzee, which carries the name today. But "troglodytes" means "cave dweller," and chimps do not live in caves.

Panda (an African tree)

Paradisaea apoda L., 1760 (greater bird of paradise) "Footless one from paradise"; it was described from two skins brought to Seville in 1522 by the Victoria, the surviving ship from Magellan's circumnavigational voyage. The native Papuans had removed the specimens' legs, and the Europeans therefore assumed that the birds remained airborne their entire lives (with the female laying and brooding eggs in a groove between the male's wings). A live individual captured in 1824 finally revealed that the bird spends most of its life standing on rather massive feet.

Paradoxurus Cuvier 1821 (Asian palm civet). The type specimen, at France's Vincennes Zoo, had a deformed tail, leading Cuvier to think it was prehensile (Paradoxurus = 'with a strange tail'). He called the type species P. hermaphroditus, misnaming it on both counts.

Peponocephala Nishiwaki & Norris, 1966 (melon-headed whale) The name was supposed to mean "melon head," but pepo does not actually mean "melon," and "pumpkin-headed whale" has not caught on in popular usage.

Phytosauridae Jaeger, 1828 (Triassic semi-aquatic reptiles) Name means "plant lizard" because the petrified mud fillings in the jaw of the first specimen found were thought to be herbivore teeth, but the creatures were wholly carnivorous.

Pinguinus Bonnaterre, 1790 (auk) Not a penguin. The name "penguin" was originally applied to the great auk and later to the Antarctic birds. It came to apply exclusively to the latter as the auks were driven to extinction.

Platypus Herbst 1793 (a beetle, family Platypodidae) Not a platypus (which is Ornithorhynchus Shaw 1799).

Prosauropoda von Huene, 1920 (group of long-necked dinosaurs) Mistakenly thought to be ancestral to the sauropods.

Puffinus puffinus (Manx shearwater) Not the puffin. It was described from a chick by a scientist who thought it was a puffin.

Raphus cucullatus Linnaeus, 1758 (dodo) "Raphus" comes from a vulgar term for "rump." The dodo's common name and former scientific name (Didus ineptus L.) are also perjorative. However, study of fossils show that wild dodos were sleeker and active; their modern image came from overfed obese captive specimens and/or overstuffed specimens.

Scalopus aquaticus (Linnaeus, 1758) (eastern mole) Not aquatic.

Sirenia (manatees and dugongs) Columbus wrote in his log entry of 9 January 1493, "I saw three sirens that came up very high out of the sea. They are not as beautiful as they are painted, since in some ways, they have a face like a man." Columbus and many explorers who followed him thought these inoffensive, rotund, placid, aquatic vegetarians were the deadly sirens or mermaids of fable whose haunting songs lured sailors to their deaths.

Thunnus albacares Bonnaterre 1788 (yellowfin, not albacore, tuna) Albacore tuna is T. alalunga. Bonnaterre got his specimens mixed up.

Viola purpurea (yellow pansy) Neither violet nor purple.

Vulcanodon Raath, 1972 (sauropod dinosaur) Vulcanodon ("volcano tooth") was described from teeth and a headless partial skeleton found in rocks of volcanic origin. It was later found that the teeth were from another (non-sauropod) animal. The skeleton called "volcano tooth" has no known teeth.

Acanthophis antarcticus (death adder) from Australia, not Antarctica.

Apterocyclus honoluluensis Waterhouse, 1871 (Kauai Flightless Stag Beetle). Named at the British Natural History Museum from a specimen that was mailed in a package postmarked "Honolulu" (on the island of Oahu). Its geographic restriction to the high elevation forests of the island of Kauai was not realized until later.

Blattella germanica Linnaeus, 1767 (German cockroach) Native to the Great Lakes region of East Africa. Carried across the Mediterranean to Europe over 1000 years ago.

Bucco capensis (collared puffbird): from South America, not the Cape Region of Africa.

Capsicum chinense Although it is used in Chinese cooking, it comes, like all other Capsica, from the Americas.

Chelonoidis chilensis Gray, 1870 (turtle) The type specimen was labeled "Valparaiso" (a port in Chile), so Gray named the turtle chilensis. However, Valparaiso was only the ship's point of departure. That species of turtle is found only in Paraguay and Argentina, east of the Andes.

Chrysochloris asiatica (Cape golden mole) From Africa, not Asia.

Dacelo novaeguineae (Hermann 1783) (common or laughing kookaburra). For novaeguineae = New Guinea. Sonnerat pictured this solely-Australian bird in his New Guinea book and claimed to have collected it there. He had in fact probably been given it by Joseph Banks, whom he met in South Africa in 1770.

Hibiscus syriacus (Rose of Sharon) from eastern Asia (it is the National flower of South Korea), not from the Levant.

Hildewintera polonica (cactus) "Polonica" means "from Poland." The cactus is from Bolivia.

Hoplodactylus duvaucelii (Dumeril and Bibron 1836) (Duvaucel's gecko) It is from New Zealand, but the type specimen was believed to have come from India and so was named after French naturalist Alfred Duvaucel (1796-1824) who spent much of his life collecting in India.

Lagerstroemia indica Linnaeus (crepe myrtle) from China, not India. Lagerström visited several Asian countries, and Linnaeus got this plant's origin wrong when he named it. Also, it is a loosestrife, not a myrtle.

Lodoicea maldivica (double Coconut or Coco-de-mer) native of the Seychelles, but first thought to come from the Maldives. For centuries, its giant seeds (up to 44 lbs.) had been found floating in the Indian Ocean, but the seeds cannot stand long immersion in sea water. The Seychelles is their only home.

Mustela africana (tropical weasel) From South America, not Africa.

Numenius madagascariensis (L., 1766) (Eastern curlew) Linnaeus thought the type specimen came from Madagascar. Neumann (1932) presumed the skin arrived from Makassar (a Portugal colony in Sulavesi Is.), whose name got confused with the better known name "Madagascar". However, Stresemann (1941) has found that the specimen really was taken in the Philippines. The species nests in NE Asia and winters from Philippines to Australia.

Opuntia (cactus) Named after Opus, a city in Greece, although the cactus is native to the New World only. It is named after Opus because Pliny said it grew there, but he must have been referring to something else.

Pelargopsis (Halcyon) capensis (stork-billed kingfisher) from southern Asia, not the Cape Region of Africa.

Periplaneta americana Linnaeus, 1758 (American cockroach) It hails from west Africa and was spread worldwide by maritime commerce, reaching North America around 1625.

Pygoscelis papua Forster 1781 (gentoo penguin) Named for Papua = New Guinea. In his 1776 book on New Guinea, Pierre Sonnerat claimed to have discovered three species of penguin on the island, so this species was named accordingly. In fact Sonnerat had stolen the skins from the collection of fellow naturalist Philippe Commerson. There have never been penguins in New Guinea, and Sonnerat never travelled as far east as New Guinea.

Quercus pyrenaica L. (oak) Not present in the Pyrenees.

Rattus norvegicus Berkenhout, 1769 (Norway rat) From East Asia, not Norway.

Scilla peruviana (lily) from the Mediterranean. It was named after a ship, the Peru, which brought it from Spain to England.

Simmondsia chinensis (jojoba) native to the American Southwest, not China.

Turnagra capensis Sparrman, 1787. (Piopio, an extinct New Zealand bird) "Capensis" means "from the Cape." Sparrman, who had sailed with Captain Cook, apparently did not remember the localities where his specimens had been collected and thought the Piopio came from South Africa. The bird also has a common name of New Zealand thrush, although it is unrelated to the thrushes.

Urocolius indicus (red-faced mousebird) from Africa, not India.

Varanus indicus (mangrove monitor): from northern Australia, New Guinea and Sulawesi, not India.

Vini peruviana (blue lorikeet) From Tahiti, not Peru.

Zonotrichia capensis (bird, Emberizidae) It lives in South and Central America, but was thought to be taken form Cape Town in South Africa.