www.CuriousTaxonomy.net
|
Curiosities of Biological Nomenclature
|
Mark Isaak
|
|
Etymology: Other Derivations
|
|

Arthrenus museorum Linnaeus, 1761 (dermestid
beetle) Linnaeus discovered this beetle devouring valuable museum
collections of zoological specimens. Dermestid beetles today are used
by museums to prepare skeleton specimens by cleaning soft tissue from
them.
Boronia hoipolloi M.F.Duretto, 1999
(Queensland citrus relative) Found in a sandstone amphitheatre.
[Austrobaileya 5(2): 288]
Cafeteria roenbergensis Fenchel & Patterson,
1988 (bacterivorous zooflagelate) Patterson said the name "was
prompted by a pink neon sign affixed to a wall on hostelry in Roenbjerg
(Denmark) which was illuminated just as the authors were about to give
up on finding a good name for one of the most significant consumers in
the world."
Callicebus aureipalatii (Golden Palace
monkey) The right to name this Bolivian monkey were put up for option.
GoldenPalace.com, a Canadian web-based casino, paid $650,000 for such
publicity. The money will generate an estimated $40,000 to $45,000 per
year which the Bolivian Wildlife Conservation Society will use to
maintain Madidi National Park, probably the most biologically diverse
park in the world.
Calliopsis filiorum Rozen, 1963 (andrenid
bee) "Filiorum" is Latin for 'children'. So named because Rozen's
children waited patiently in the sun while he dug up the nest.
Cardiocondyla pirata Seifert & Frohschammer,
2013 (ant) "The species epithet refers to the black ribbon
across the eye reminiscent of a pirate's blindfold." [ZooKeys
301: 13]
Chromis humbug Whitley 1954 (fish)
Corydoras narcissus Nijssen & Isbrucker, 1980
(catfish) Named "narcissus" because the discoverers insisted that the
describer name it after them.
Cyclocephala unamas Ratcliffe, 2003 (scarab
beetle) Spanish for "one more," since there are so many in the
genus.
Drepanovelia millennium Andersen and Weir,
2001 (veliid water strider) The real "Millennium
bug". [Invert. Taxonomy 15: 217-258]
Sinornithosaurus millenii Xu, Wang & Wu,
1999) (Chinese dromaeosaur)
Drosera zigzagia Lowrie (sundew) Its leaves
alternate along a zigzag stem.
Siphonocryptus zigzag (millipede)
Epictia rioignis Koch et al. 2019 (snake)
"The specific epithet is an agglutination of the Latin nomen 'ignis'
which means fire and the proper noun 'Rio' as an acronym for the
Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro. This name was chosen in honour to
the Museu Nacional do Rio de Janeiro/UFRJ, Brazil's oldest
scientific institution with the largest South American collections
of zoology, anthropology, geology and paleontology. Many of the
precious collections pertaining to the zoology department (mostly
invertebrates), anthropology, geology and paleontology were
completely destroyed in the disastrous fire in its main building on
September 2nd 2018. Due to historical neglection of this
institution from the Brazilian government, added with substantial
funding decrease in the past 5 years the museum did not receive
sufficient money to fullfil basic safety standards--such as fire
protection. The description of this new species, with specimens
housed in a scientific collection [Natural History Museum in Vienna]
for more than 100 years highlights one of the several importances of
zoological collections in housing relevant material to understand
the diversity of life, and also reinforce that such collections are
timeless treasures for science. Such collections should receive
strong attention in government investments as they contribute to the
global development of science."
Erythroneura ix Myers (leafhopper) This was
Myers' 9th species of Erythroneura.
Gaudeamus igitur Simons (Oligocene rodent)
The name means "let us therefore be joyful," the first words of a
medieval student song. Supposedly, there was something particularly
lucky about the fossil.
Goodrichthys (fossil shark)
Guibemantis milingilingy Bletz et
al. 2018 (frog) "The specific epithet is a Malagasy word
meaning 'being in an uncomfortable position,' in reference to the
precariousness of capturing specimens of this species, due to the
uneven and steep substrate on which their Pandanus plants grow,
which caused one of the authors to fall into such a plant with great
gusto."
Halkieria evangelista Conway Morris and Peel,
1995 "The name is chosen as an indication of the fossil's
explanatory power for Lower Cambrian palaeontology, and aslo as a pun
on Johann, one of the pilots who assisted in field-work."
[Phil. Trans. Biol. Sci. 347: 310.]
Histiophryne psychedelica Pietsch, Arnold &
Hall, 2009 (fish) Named for the wild swirl of stripes which
covers its body.
Hallucigenia Conway Morris, 1977 (Cambrian
marine onychophoran) for "the bizarre and dream-like appearance of the
animal". The original interpretation was upside-down; what Conway
Morris thought were legs were armor spines on its back.
Horridonia horrida (Permian brachiopod) It
has nothing more horrible than a set of spines.
Hymenodon reggaeus Karttunen & Back,
1988 (moss) Karttunen collected this moss in Jamaica and named
it after the local music.
Inglorious mediocris Austin 1997 (mediocre
skipper)
Indicator indicator Sparrman, 1777 (greater honey-guide)
This African bird leads people and honey-badgers to honey
nests.
Luckia striki Bellan-Santini & Thurston
1996 (amphipod) Named for the "Lucky Strike" hydrothermal vent
field along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
Macrocarpaea lacrossiformis J.R. Grant
(gentian)
Maxillaria bicentenaria Collantes &
C.Martel., 2021 (orchid) Named in homage to the bicentennial
of Peru's declaration of independence (July 28, 1821).
Mycena luxaeterna and
Mycena luxperpetua Desjardin et al., 2010
(mushrooms) The epithets, which mean "eternal light" and "perpetual
light", come from the words of Mozart's Requiem. The fungi
glow 24 hours a day.
Oedipina complex (salamander)
Paradoxides paradoxissimus (trilobite)
Proconsul Hopwood, 1933 (Miocene
hominoid) "before Consul". Consul was the name of a popular chimpanzee
in the Birmingham Zoo, England.
Shuvosaurus inexpectatus Chatterjee, 1993
(theropod dinosaur) so called because its features were more advanced
than expected for a Triassic theropod.
Stumpffia contumelia and
Stumpffia obscoena Rakotoarison et
al. 2017 (frogs) The epithets mean, respectively, "insulting"
and "obscene". They refer to the reduction of digits on the
forefeet of the frogs, leaving a lone, extended middle
finger.
Thambema thunderstruckae Zemko & Kaiser
2012 (marine isopod) Named for the AC/DC song "Thunderstruck",
the lead author's favorite song. [Polish Polar Res. 33:
163.]
Xanthopan morgani praedicta Rothschild & Jordan,
1903 (African sphinx moth) In The Various Contrivances by which
Orchids are Fertilized by Insects (1877), Charles Darwin described
an orchid from Madagascar, Angraecum sesquepedale, whose flowers
have a spur almost 12 inches long, with all the nectar at the bottom.
He hypothesized that, for the plant to be fertilized, "In Madagascar
there must be moths with proboscides capable of extension to a length of
between ten and eleven inches! This belief of mine has been ridiculed by
entomologists..." (On the Various Contrivances Whereby British and
Foreign Orchids are Fertilized by Insects, and on the Good Effects of
Intercrossing, 1877). Alfred Russel Wallace had also predicted its
existence in Quarterly Journal of Science (1867). In 1903, this
subspecies, with a 12-inch coiled tongue, was discovered as
predicted.
Agra calamitas Erwin, 1986 (carabid) after the
destruction befalling its native forest.
Brookesia desperata and
B. tristis Glaw et al. 2012 (tiny
chameleons) So named because their little remaining habitat in
Madigascar is threatened (tristis means "sad"). In contrast,
Brookesia confidens lives in a
well-protected reserve. [PLoS ONE 7(2)]
Carcharhinus obsolerus White, Kyne & Harris,
2019 (shark) The shark, described from three historical
specimens, has not been recorded anywhere in 80 years; "obsolerus" is
Latin for "extinct." [PLoS ONE 14(1): e0209387]
Cyprinodon inmemoriam Lozano & Contreras,
1993 (Cachoritto de la Trinidad pupfish) recently
extinct.
Drepanis funerea Newton, 1893 (black mamo)
Robert Perkins discovered this perching bird on the mountains of
Molokai, Hawaii 18 June 1893. Perkins proposed the name "funerea" to
Alfred Newton, the species describer. This was not only on account of
the birds somber jet black plummage, but because of "the sad fate that
too probably awaits the species". Fourteen years later, in June of
1907, a collector shot and killed the last three known birds.
Homalictus terminalis Dorey et al. 2019
(bee) "H. terminalis has only been found within 95 m of the
maximum elevation available to it. The Latin noun terminalis means
limit or boundary indicating the upper elevational and thermal limit
that H. terminalis inhabits and could ultimately result in
its extinction with global climate warming."
Mammamia profuga Akkari et al. 2011
(millipede) "'profuga' in Latin means homeless; the name emphasizes
the destroyed type locality of the species." [ZooKeys 114:
1]
Neduba extincta Rentz, 1977 (Antioch Dunes
shieldback katydid) In the 1960's, Dave Rentz was revising the
Dectininae crickets when he came across a specimen of an apparently new
species of the Neduba genus that had lain unidentified in a museums
collections since the late 1930's. Its large size, differently shaped
pronotum, and other characteristics were unique. Despite several large
scale field excursions to California's Antioch Dunes (which have been
largely blown and hauled away) it has never again been recorded. Rentz
pronounced it gone and named it 'extincta'. [Rentz, D.C.F.,
1977. A new and apparently extinct katydid from Antioch sand dunes,
Entomological News 88:241-245.]
Nepenthes extincta Jebb & Cheek (2014)
(pitcher plant) "[T]his species may already be extinct globally."
[Euro. J. Tax. 69: 14]
Aegista diversifamilia Huang et al., 2014
(snail) This hermaphroditic snail is "named after the recent efforts
supporting equal marriage rights in Taiwan and around the world." Its
epithet is derived from Latin for "different family." [ZooKeys
445: 31]
Eurythenes plasticus Weston, 2020
(isopod) The name speaks to the ubiquity of plastic pollution in
oceans. Specimens were collected from the Mariana Trench at depths
6010 to 6949 m; one specimen was found to have a plastic fiber in
its hindgut.
Kirchnerala treintamil Petrulevicius &
Gutiérrez, 2016 (Carboniferous insect) Dedicated to the
30,000 ("treinta mil" in Spanish) people detained-disappeared by the
Argentinean dictatorship 1976-1983.
Tupacsala niunamenos Petrulevicius &
Gutiérrez, 2016 (Carboniferous insect) "Dedicated to 'Ni
Una Menos' (No one less), a collective against gender violence. It is
a collective campaign that arose from the need to say 'enough
femicides', because in Argentina every 30 hours a woman is killed just
by being a woman." [Arquivos Entomolóxicos 16:
346]
Arturia dubia (Dendy, 1891) (sponge)
"Indeed, it is by no means improbable that the specimens which I
distinguish as Leucosolenia dubia may be young forms
of L. cavata . . .". [Trans. Royal Soc. Vict. 3: 51]
The species was later placed in a genus named after Arthur
Dendy.
Conflicto Tambussi et al. 2019
(Palaeocene anseriform bird) "... owing to the controversial
systematic position of the taxon."
Cyanea kuhihewa Lammers (small tree) The
specific epithet means "to suppose wrongly" in Hawaiian, because its
discoverer thought it was C. linearfolia a related extinct
species.
Navicula difficillimoides Hustedt 1957 and
N. difficillima Hustedt 1950 (diatoms)
Epithets refer to the extreme difficulty of identification.
Pecado Hormiga & Scharff, 2005
(linyphiid spider) "Derived from the Spanish word 'pecado' (sin) in
reference to widespread practice of erecting monotypic genera,
especially in the Linyphiidae, in absence of a phylogenetic
justification." (Pecado itself is a monotypic genus, but
the authors provide phylogenetic justification.)
Sinezona calumnior and
S. phenax Geiger, 2012 (sea snail) Both
specific epithets refer to trickery and mischief, because the species
were so hard to figure out.
Tribolium confusum Jacquelin du Val, 1863
(confused flour beetle) So called because it is often confused with
the red flour beetle, T. castaneum.
On the other hand:
Platypelis laetus Rakotoarison et al. 2020 (frog)
"The specific epithet is a masculine Latin adjective meaning
'happy'. The new species is so named in reflection of the joy and
happiness of the first author to get to work on the cophyline
microhylid frogs of Madagascar."
Blamada Lin & Holzschuh, 2013 (longhorn
beetle) "The generic name is an arbitrary combination of
letters." [Zootaxa 3640: 96]
Megachile pankus Bzdyk, 2012 (leafcutter
bee) "The species name 'pankus' is a nonsense combination."
[Zookeys 221: 53]
Colobopsis explodens Laciny & Zettel, 2018
(ant) To protect the next, some of the worker ants literally explode,
releasing a toxic yellow goo from their abdomens. [ZooKeys
751: 1]
Solanum ossicruentum Martine et al. 2016
(bush tomato) The specific epithet means "bony-bloody", referring to
fruits which stain blood red before maturity and mature to a dry,
bony condition. The name was based on suggestions from middle
school students in Lewisburg, PA. [PhytoKeys 63:
19]
Wunderpus photogenicus Hochberg, Norman & Finn,
2006 ("wunderpus" Indo-Malayan octopus) [Molluscan
Research 26: 128]
Last modified: .
© 2002-2022
Mark Isaak.
All rights reserved.