Tautonyms, composed of two identical words (e.g., Vulpes
vulpes, the red fox), are too common to list all of them. See
Long, Samuel S., 1996, Tautonyms in Biology, Word Ways 29(3):
146-150, 29(4): 253-257.
Loa loa (a nematode) - shortest
tautonym.
Coccothraustes coccothraustes (hawfinch)
and
Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus (yellow-headed
blackbird) - longest tautonyms.
Bufo bufo bufo (European toad),
Naja naja naja (Sri Lankan cobra) - shortest
trinomials.
Crossoptilon crossoptilon crossoptilon
(Szechuan white eared pheasant) - longest trinomial
Other species are notable as three-way near misses; both parts of the
binomial and the common name differ slightly:
Babyrousa babyrussa (babirusa, a wild
pig)
Suricata suricatta (suricate or meerkat, a
south African mongoose)
Of more interest are those cases where the genus and species mean the same
thing in two languages:
Anous stolidus (brown noddy) Greek/Latin:
"stupid"
Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (bearberry) Gk/La:
"berry-of-bear"
Ardea herodias (great blue heron) La/Gk:
"heron"
Asio otus (long-eared owl) La/Gk: "horned
owl"
Brachyramphus brevirostris (Killitz's murrelet) Gk/La:
"short beak"
Cygnus olor (mute swan) Gk/La: "swan"
Diceros bicornis (black rhino) Gk/La: "two
horns"
Equus caballus (horse) La/Gallic: "horse,
nag"
Megaceryle alcyon (belted kingfisher)
Gk/La: "big kingfisher kingfisher"; it has also been known by the
fully tautonymous synonym Ceryle alcyon.
Pogona barbata (bearded lizard) Gk/La:
"beard"
Tayassu tajacu (peccary) Spanish and Portugese
transcriptions of the Guarani "tajasu", peccary
Toxotes jaculatrix (archerfish) Gk/La:
"dart-shooter"
Tragopan satyra (Himalayan pheasant) Pan and
satyrs are commonly represented with legs of goats; "trago-" is Greek
for goat.
Upupa epops Linnaeus, 1758 (hoopoe) in Latin
and Greek, respectively.
Ursus arctos (brown bear) La/Gk: "bear"
Xiphias gladius (swordfish) Gk/La: "sword"
Finally, these pairs of species deserves note:
Lonicera caprifolium and
L. tragophylla (Caprifoliaceae,
honeysuckles) Both specific epithets mean "goat leaf," in Latin and
Greek respectively.
Rhinolophus ferrumequinum (greater horseshoe
bat) and
R. hipposideros (lesser horseshoe bat).
"Ferrumequinum" means horseshoe in Latin; "hipposideros" means the same
in Greek.
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Mark Isaak.
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