www.CuriousTaxonomy.net
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Curiosities of Biological Nomenclature
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Mark Isaak
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Wordplay: Long and Short Names
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Johannesteijsmannia (palm genus) after 19th
century Dutch botanist Johannes Teijsmann.
Deuterosmintheurus quinquefasciatus (collembolan)
Gryllotalpa septemdecimchromosomica Ortiz
1958 (mole cricket)
Luopingocoelacanthus eurylacrimalis Wen et al.,
2012 (fossil coelacanth)
Pterodactylus crocodiliocephaloides (pterosaur)
Pseudotyrannochthonius octospinosus
(pseudoscorpion)
Yunnancoelacanthus acrotuberculatus Wen et al.,
2012 (fossil coelacanth)
Griseotyrannus aurantioatrocristatus d'Orbigny and
Lafresnaye, 1837 (crowned slaty flycatcher) Longest latinized bird
name.
Stigmatodactylus dalagangpalawanicum A.S. Rob,
2016 (orchid)
Weberbauerocereus cephalomacrostibas (Werdermann
& Backeberg) Ritter, 1981 (S. American cactus)
Cryptodidymosphaerites princetonensis Currah,
Stockey & B. A. LePage 1998 (Eocene fungus)
Prolasioptera aeschynanthusperottetii Mani, 1943
(cecidomyiid fly)
Sirococcus clavigignenti-juglandacearum Nair, Kostichka &
Kuntz (butternut canker)
Brachyta interrogationis interrogationis var.
nigrohumeralisscutellohumeroconjuncta Plavilstshikov, 1936
(cerambycid)
Anaerobiospirillium succiniciproducens Davis,
Cleven, Brown, and Balish, 1976 (bacterium)
Methanothermobacter thermautotrophicus
(bacterium)
Micropachycephalosaurus hongtuyanensis Dong, 1978
(pachycephalosaurid dinosaur)
Pseudorhabdosynochus magnisquamodiscum (Aljoshkina
1984) Santos, Buchmann & Gibson 2000 (monogenean
flatworm)
Thermodesulfobacterium hydrogeniphilum Jeanthon
et al., 2002 (sulfate-reducing bacterium)
Austrocephalocereus dolichospermatichus Buining
& Brederoo, 1974 (S. American cactus)
Parapropalaehoplophorus septentrionalis Croft, 2007
(Miocene glyptodont from Chile)
Notiocryptorrhynchus punctatocarinulatus
(weevil)
Parastratiosphecomyia stratiosphecomyioides Brunetti,
1923 (stratiomyid fly)
Myxococcus llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogochensis
Chambers et al. 2020 (bacterium) Collected in the Welsh parish
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. Note
also the four consecutive 'l's. To save you the counting, there are
63 letters in the epithet. [Genome Bio. and Evo.]
Yamagutiplectognathotrema Paruchin, 1977 (trematode)
New name for Plectognathotrema Yamaguti 1971, which is a junior
synonym (homonym?). This is the same Satyu Yamaguti who named an
even longer genus, below.
Archaeohystrichosphaeridium (fossil
dinoflagellate)
Lagenivaginopseudobenedenia Yamaguti, 1966
(Monogenea platyhelminth, a fish parasite) Before this, there
was Benedenia Diesing, 1858 (named for Edouard Van Beneden);
then Pseudobenedenia Johnston, 1931.
Kimmeridgebrachypteraeschnidium Fleck & Nel,
2003 (fossil dragonfly)
At 31 letters, Kimmeridgebrachypteraeschnidium is, to the
best of my knowledge, the longest valid genus names.
Cancelloidokytodermogammarus (Loveninsuskytodermogammarus)
loveni Dybowski, 1926 (crustacean)
Crassocornoechinogammarus crassicornis Dybowski, 1927
(amphipod)
Parapallaseakytodermogammarus abyssalis Dybowski, 1927
(amphipod)
Zienkowiczikytodermogammarus zienkowiczi Dybowski, 1927
(amphipod)
Toxophthalmoechinogammarus toxophthalmus Dybowski, 1927
(amphipod)
Siemienkiewicziechinogammarus siemenkiewitschii
Dybowski (amphipod)
Rhodophthalmokytodermogammarus cinnamomeus Dybowski,
1927 (amphipod)
Gammaracanthuskytodermogammarus loricatobaicalensis Dybowski,
1927 (amphipod) The above names were proposed by B. Dybowski for
amphipods from Lake Baikal; they were invalidated by the
ICZN.
Polichinellobizarrocomicburlescomagicaraneus
This name is given in Theodore Horace Savory's Naming the Living
World, page 83. Alas, he gives no more information about it.
Proterocameroceratidae (Ordovician Endocerida
nautiloid)
Stereoplasmoceratidae (Ordovician Orthocerid
nautiloid)
Pachycephalosauridae (dinosaur)
Mesembryanthemaceae (ice-plants, now Azioaceae)
- Long family names
Saxifraga aizoon var. aizoon
subvar. brevifola forma multicaulis subforma
surculosa Engler & Irmscher (a variety of the saxifrage,
a flowering plant)
Aquilegia flabellata nana pumila alba 'Rama Lama
Ding Dong' (a cultivar of dwarf white columbine)
Afipia felis Brenner, Hollis, Moss, English, Hall,
Vincent, Radosevic, Birkness, Bibb, Quinn, Swaminathan, Weaver, Reeves,
O'Connor, Hayes, Tenover, Steigerwalt, Perkins, Daneshvar, Hill,
Washington, Woods, Hunter, Hadfield, Ajello, Kaufmann, Wear and
Wenger 1992 (bacterium) The author list may be abbreviated
"Brenner et al. 1992" in citations.
Aha ha Menke 1977 (sphecid)
Ia io Thomas 1902 (vespertilionid bat)
Yi qi Xu et al. 2015 (Jurassic theropod)
meaning "strange wing"; pronounced "EE CHEE".
Plesiothrips o Girault (thrips)
Adansonia za Baillon 1890 (Madagascan
tree)
Automeris io (Fabricius 1775) (io moth)
Dicycla oo (Linnaeus 1758) (moth)
Limnophyes er Saether, 1985 (chironomid)
According to Saether, er means "hedgehog."
Stenolicnus ix Wosiack, Montag and Coutinho 2011
(Brazilian catfish) Ix is Mayan for "jaguar",
inspired by the fish's coloring.
Io ambondrombeensis (Humbert) B. Nord. 2003
(Asteraceae) but generally considered in genus
Senecio.
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