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www.CuriousTaxonomy.net
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Curiosities of Biological Nomenclature
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Mark Isaak
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Tautonyms are those names composed of the same word twice
(e.g., Vulpes vulpes, the red fox).
Official rules of Botanical Nomenclature forbid tautonyms. Still, a few
exist as synonyms of the accepted names.
Lablab lablab (L.) Lyons (hyacinth bean)
synonym for Lablab purpureus (L.) Sweet.
Opuntia opuntia (L.) Karst. (eastern
prickly pear) synonym for O. humifusa (Raf.) Raf.
Linnaeus described Cactus opuntia, which was then moved to
genus Opuntia, which had to be renamed because botany
disallows tautonyms.
Thevetia thevetia (L.) H.Karst. (yellow
oleander) synonym for Cascabela thevetia (L.) H.Lippold.
There are also several near-tautonyms in botany:
Araucaria araucana (Molina) K. Koch
(monkey puzzle tree)
Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp. (pigeon
pea)
Cuminum cyminum L. (cumin)
Inga ynga (Vell.) J.W.Moore (icecream bean)
synonym for Inga edulis Mart.
Lycopersicon lycopersicum (L.) Farw.
(tomato) synonym for Solanum lycopersicum L.
Mammillaria mammillaris (L.) H.Karst.
(mammillaria cactus)
Mielichhoferia mielichhoferiana Loeske,
1910 (copper moss)
Oxycoccus oxycoccos (L.) MacMillan
(cranberry)
synonym for Vaccinium oxycoccos L.
Raffia ruffia (raffia plant)
Salacca zalacca (Gaertn.) Voss. (salak
palm)
Ziziphus zizyphus (L.) R.D. Meikle (common
jujube) synonym for Z. jujuba Miller.
A long list of animal tautonyms is here;
it includes all the valid names I am aware of.
Here are some record-setters from that list:
Loa loa (a nematode) - shortest
tautonym.
Archigyrodactylus archigyrodactylus Mizelle & Kritsky,
1967 (flatworm) and
Icelanonchohaptor icelanonchohaptor Leiby, Kritsky &
Peterson, 1972 (flatworm) - longest tautonyms.
Bufo bufo bufo (European toad),
Naja naja naja (Sri Lankan cobra) - shortest
trinomials.
Coccothraustes coccothraustes coccothraustes
(Linnaeus, 1758) (hawfinch) - longest trinomial
There are other notable near-misses, where both parts of the binomial
and sometimes the common name differ slightly:
Babyrousa babyrussa (babirusa, a wild
pig)
Bubalus bubalis (L., 1758) (domestic
water buffalo)
Stenodactylus sthenodactylus Lichtenstein, 1823
(gecko) It means "narrow-finger strong-finger".
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:
Amaradix bitterrootensis (Dunn, 1923)
(flea) Latin/English "bitter-root of-bitter-root"
Anous stolidus Linnaeus (brown noddy) Greek/Latin:
"stupid"
Anthrax carbo Rondani, 1875 (bee fly)
Gk/La: "coal, ember"
Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (L.) Spreng. (bearberry)
Gk/La: "berry-of-bear"
Ardea herodias Linnaeus (great blue heron) La/Gk:
"heron"
Asio otus (Linnaeus) (long-eared owl) La/Gk: "horned
owl"
Asterolinon linum-stellatum (L.) Duby (Primulaceae)
Gk: "star flax"/La: "flax starry"
Badisis ambulans McAlpine 1990 (wingless
stilt-legged fly) Gk/La: "walking"
Balanus glandula Darwin, 1854 (acorn
barnacle) Gk/La: "acorn little-acorn"
Brachyramphus brevirostris (Vigors, 1829) (Killitz's
murrelet) Gk/La: "short beak"
Bycanistes bucinator (Temminck, 1824)
(trumpeter hornbill) Gk/La: "trumpeter"
Candida albicans (pathogenic yeast) Latin
"white becoming-white" (Strictly speaking, it means "shining-white
becoming-dull-white", but the distinction is often
ignored.)
Castor fiber Linnaeus (European beaver) Gk/La:
"beaver"
Cephalopyrus flammiceps (Burton, 1836)
(fire-capped tit) Gk/La: "head-fire fire-head"
Cervus elaphus Linnaeus (red deer) La/Gk:
"stag"
Corvus corax Linnaeus (crow) La/Gk:
"crow"
Cygnopsis cygnoides (Linnaeus, 1758) (swan
goose) "swan-looking thing" / "swanlike". (It is now Anser
cygnoides.)
Cygnus olor (Gmelin, 1789) (mute swan) Gk/La:
"swan"
Diceros bicornis (Linnaeus) (black rhino) Gk/La: "two
horns"
Equus caballus Linnaeus (horse) La/Gallic: "horse,
nag"
Felis catus Linnaeus (domestic cat) La/La:
"cat"
Ficus carica L. (common fig) La: "fig /
dried fig"
Gazella dorcas (Linnaeus) (dorcas gazelle)
Arabic-Latin/Gk: "gazelle"
Hemicentetes semispinosus (G. Cuvier, 1789)
(streaked tenrec) Gk/La: "half-prickle"
Kryptopterus cryptopterus (Bleeker, 1851)
(blue sheathfish) Gk/Gk: "hidden-fin"
Liquidambar styraciflua L. (sweetgum)
Literally (in Latin) "fluid-ambergris flowing-styrax". Ambar
is more commonly but less accurately associated with the amber from
plant resins, and styrax is both a plant and the resin it produces, so
"fluid-resin fluid-resin" would be a reasonable
translation.
Megaceryle alcyon (Linnaeus) (belted kingfisher)
Gk/La: "big kingfisher kingfisher"; it has also been known by the
fully tautonymous synonym Ceryle alcyon.
Melanitta nigra (Linnaeus) (common scoter) Gk/La:
"black duck black"
Nucifraga caryocatactes (Linnaeus) (European
nutcracker) La/Gk: "nutcracker"
Nyctalus noctula (Schreber, 1774) (noctule)
Gk/La: "little night"
Ovis aries Linnaeus (domestic sheep) La/Gk:
"sheep"
Pecari tajacu (Linnaeus) (peccary) Spanish word /
Portuguese transcriptions of the Guarani "tajasu": peccary
Picea omorika (Pancic) Purk. (Serbian
spruce) La/Serbian: "spruce Serbian-spruce"
Pogona barbata (Cuvier, 1829) (bearded
lizard) Gk/La: "bearded"
Potamon fluviatile (Herbst, 1785) (crab)
Gk/La: "river creature found in river"
Silurus glanis Linnaeus (European catfish) La/Gk:
"catfish"
Sphaerostoma globiporum (Rutolphi, 1802)
(helminth) Gk/La: "ball-mouth ball-opening"
Sus scrofa L., 1758 (wild boar) La: "pig /
sow"
Symphalangus syndactylus (Raffles, 1821)
(Siamang gibbon) Gk/Gk: "joined-toe-bone joined-toe"
Tayassu pecari Fischer, 1814 (white-lipped
peccary) Spanish word / Portuguese transcriptions of the Guarani
"tajasu": peccary
Tetracerus quadricornis (Blainville, 1816)
(four-horned antelope) Gr/La: "four-horned four-horn"
Tibicen auletes Germar, 1834 (northern
dusk-singing cicada) La/Gk: "flutist". There is also Auletes
tubicen (a weevil), "flutist trumpeter".
Toxotes jaculatrix (Pallas, 1767) (archerfish) Gk/La:
"dart-shooter"
Tragopan satyra (Linnaeus) (Himalayan pheasant) Pan
and satyrs are commonly represented with legs of goats; "trago-" is
Greek for goat.
Trionyx triunguis (Forskal, 1775) (African
soft-shelled turtle) Gk/La: "three-claws"
Upupa epops Linnaues, 1758 (hoopoe) La/Gk: hoopoe
Ursus arctos Linnaues (brown bear) La/Gk: "bear"
Xiphias gladius Linnaeus (swordfish) Gk/La:
"sword"
Zootoca vivipara (Lichtenstein, 1823)
(lizard) Gk/La: "live birth"
Equisetum Subg. Hippochaete (J. Milde)
Baker (horsetail) La/Gk: "horse bristle"
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.
Pyrophorus noctilucus and
P. nyctophanus (click beetles). Both
specific epithets mean "night shining."
Rhinolophus ferrumequinum (greater horseshoe
bat) and
R. hipposideros (lesser horseshoe bat).
"Ferrumequinum" means horseshoe in Latin; "hipposideros" means the same
in Greek.
And a genus which is its own tautonym:
Callibella Van Roosmaien & Van Roosmaien, 2003
(marmoset) from Greek calli and Italian bella, both
meaning "beautiful."
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Mark Isaak.
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