Curiosities of Biological Nomenclature: Wordplay (original) (raw)
On This Page:
- Alphabetical Order
- Unusual Letter Combinations
- Long and Short Names
- Vowels
- Consonants
- Isograms (no letter repeated)
- Anagrams
- Palindromes and Reversals
- Rhymes and Alliterations
- Charades
- Tautonyms
- Oxymorons
- Other
- Common Names
Alphabetical Order
Aa Reichenbach, 1854
(orchid)
Aaadonta Solem, 1976
(endodontoid snail)
Aaages Barovksii, 1926
(coccinellid)
Aaata Semenov, 1906
(buprestid),
de Laubenfels, 1930
(sponge)
Cavaticovelia aaa Gagne, 1975
(Hawaiian troglobitic mesoveliid) Described first as Speovelia aaa. Aaa is the Hawaiian word for lava tube. [Gagne & Howarth 1975, Pacific Insects 16(4):399-413]; moved to new genus by Polhemus?
Quercus aata Muller
(Central American oak)
Zyzzyva Casey, 1922
(tropical American weevil)
Zyzzyxdonta Solem, 1976
(endodontoid snail) with characters the extreme opposite of Aaadonta.
Zyzzyzus Stechow, 1921
(Coelenterata)
Apolysis zzyzxensis Evenhuis, 1985
(bombyliid fly) Named for the Desert Studies Area on Zzyzx Road, California.
Aegilops Hall, 1850
(mollusk; also a grass) The longest word with all its letters in alphabetical order.
Unusual Letter Combinations
Abcichthys Whitley, 1927
(fish)
Betonica abchasica, Cyclamen abchasicum, Helleborus abchasicus
(paeonia plants from Republic of Georgia) "abc" combination.
Xyzzors Inglis, 1966
(nematode)
Mnoonema Motschoulsky, 1863
(wasp)
Limnophilidae
(caddisfly),
Limnophora
(fly),
Limnopithecus
(Miocene fossil primate),
Prumnopitys Philippi, 1860
(conifer),
Semnopithecus
(langur monkey),
Thamnophilidae
(antbirds) - "mnop" combination.
Zaa Baillon, 1887
(Bignoniaceae)
Brachinus aabaaba Erwin, 1970
(carabid)
Ajaia ajaja Linnaeus, 1758
(roseate spoonbill)
Coccophagus ishiii
(aphelinid wasp) from Japan.
Helobdella nununununojensis Siddall, 2001
(leech) from Nununununoj, a Quechua placename, "The Place of Very Bare Breasts", from nunu, nipple.
Lagynodes ooii Dessart, 1982
(ceraphronid wasp)
Leaia Jones, 1862
(fossil crustacean, family Leaiidae)
Ninini
(a tribe of bugs in the Cyminae subfamily)
Saurodon leaae Hays, 1830
(fossil fish) a name introduced in synonymy of Saurodon lanciformis Harlan, 1824
Semicytherura miii (Ishizaki, 1969)
(ostracod)
Long and Short Names
Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis
(sea urchin)
Johannesteijsmannia
(palm genus) after 19th century Dutch botanist Johannes Teijsmann.
Tetrastichus rhipophorathripcidis Narayanan, Subba Rao & Ramachandra Rao, 1962
(parasitic eulophid wasp)
Deuterosmintheurus quinquefasciatus
(collembolan)
Pterodactylus crocodiliocephaloides
(pterosaur)
Pseudotyrannochthonius octospinosus
(pseudoscorpion)
Prolasioptera aeschynanthusperottetii Mani, 1943
(cecidomyiid fly)
Sirococcus clavigignenti-juglandacearum Nair, Kostichka & Kuntz
(butternut canker)
Anaerobiospirillium succiniciproducens Davis, Cleven, Brown, and Balish, 1976
(bacterium)
Micropachycephalosaurus hongtuyanensis Dong, 1978
(pachycephalosaurid dinosaur)
Notiocryptorrhynchus punctatocarinulatus
(weevil)
Parastratiosphecomyia stratiosphecomyioides
(stratiomyid fly)
Yamagutiplectognathotrema Paruchin, 1977
(new name for_Plectognathotrema_ Yamaguti 1971, which is a junior synonym (homonym?))
Archaeohystrichosphaeridium
(fossil dinoflagellate)
Cancelloidokytodermogammarus (Loveninsuskytodermogammarus) loveni Dybowski, 1926
(crustacean)
Brachyta interrogationis interrogationis var. nigrohumeralisscutellohumeroconjuncta Plavilstshikov, 1936
(cerambycid)
Crassocornoechinogammarus crassicornis Dybowski, 1927
(amphipod)
Parapallaseakytodermogammarus abyssalis Dybowski, 1927
(amphipod)
Zienkowiczikytodermogammarus zienkowiczi Dybowski, 1927
(amphipod)
Toxophthalmoechinogammarus toxophthalmus Dybowski, 1927
(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.
Pachycephalosauridae
(dinosaur)
Mesembryanthamaceae
(ice-plants) - 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, 1988
(sphecid)
Ia io
(vespertilionid bat)
Plesiothrips o Girault
(thrips)
Vowels
Iouea de Laubenfels, 1955
(fossil sponge) Shortest with AEIOU (and 4 syllables in 5 letters).
Eydouxia
(screw-pine),
Euryomia Burmeister, 1842
(beetle),
Eumyobia Townsend, 1911
(fly),
Joyeuxia Topsent, 1890
(sponge) Shortest with AEIOUY.
Sticharthropterus
(beetle),
Trichopentarthrum
(beetle) Longest with AEIOU.
Antistrephorrhynchus
(extinct crustacean) Longest with AEIOUY.
Lamelligomphus Fraser, 1922
(dragonfly),
Phragelliorhynchus
(protozoan) Longest with AEIOU in order (without and with Y).
Annelidous
("pertaining to segmented worms") Shortest biological word with AEIOU in order.
Muroidea
(rodent),
Suoidea
(superfamily including pigs),
Juloidea
(superfamily of millipedes) Shortest with AEIOU in reverse order.
Punctoschmidtella
(crustacean) Longest with AEIOU in reverse order.
Haemodipsus lyriocephalus
(louse) All vowels in each name.
Cochlearius cochlearius cochlearius
(boat-billed heron) - all 5 vowels in each name.
Ussolzewiechinogammarus
(crustacean) Longest word which uses each vowel exactly twice.
Corrugatocephalum ouei
(marine cestode tapeworm from megamouth sharks)
Ia io
(vespertilionid bat) Only all-vowel binomial.
Iyaiyai Evenhuis, 1994
(fossil chaoborid fly) Seven consecutive vowels.
Loxolophodon
(Eocene ungulate) 5 o's in 12 characters.
Consonants
Diooeae
(a tribe of cycads),
Aizoaceae
(family of African succulents),
Paeoniaceae
(family of flowering plants),
Fouquieriaceae
(family of arid N. American flowering plants) - Longest with 1, 2, 3, 4 consonants.
Coccaceae
(bacteria),
Nioniinae
(cicadellid) - Longest with 1 different consonant.
Araucariaceae
(southern hemisphere gymnosperm family) - Longest with 2 different consonants.
Hantzschia
(diatom),
Eschscholzia
(poppy),
Rhododendron camptschaticum
, - 6 consecutive consonants.
Schtschurowskia Regel & Schmalhausen, 1882
(Umbelliferae) - 7 consecutive consonants.
Isograms (no letter repeated)
Brachypolemius Wittmer, 1950
(beetle)
Schizotrypanum
(subgenus of trypanosome)
All of these words are one letter short of the record-holders, "dermatoglyphics" and "uncopyrightable".
Anagrams
Asio otus
(long-eared owl) and
Otus asio
(eastern screech owl) The latter, however, was revised to_Megascops asio_ in 2003.
Bombacaceae
(kapok) and
Cabombaceae
(water plant). The type genera are_Bombax_ and Cabomba, so the anagram was unintentional.
Conilera, Rocinela, Nerocila
, and
Olincera Leach
(isopods) All anagrams of Caroline, W.E. Leach's wife.
Cirolana, Lanocira
, and
Anilocra
are anagrams of Carolina, Leach's mistress.
Dacelo Leach, 1815
(kingfisher) and
Lacedo (pulchella)
(kingfisher) Both named after
Alcedo Linnaeus 1758
(another kingfisher)
Daption Stephens, 1826
(Pintado petrel)
Dasytes Paykull, 1798
and
Sydates Casey, 1895
(both dasytid beetles). Also
Adasytes Casey, 1895
and
Asydates Casey, 1895
.
Denmoza
(in Argentina, genus of Cactaceae) anagram of Mendoza.
Filago Linnaeus 1753
, followed by
Gifola, Ifloga, and Logfia Cassini, 1819
,
Oglifa Cassini, 1822
, and finally
Lifago Schweinfurth & Muschler, 1911
(all cudweeds)
Galphimia
, in the same family as
Malpighia
(acerola, a sub-tropical fruit)
Guamatela Donn.-Smith, 1914
(genus of Rosaceae) anagram of Guatemala.
Legenere
(named for Berkeley botanist E. L. Greene)
Leymus
Named after
Elymus
(both grasses)
Lobivia
(a cactus from Bolivia) (The genus is no longer in use, having been split between Echinopsis and_Rebutia_.)
Lomandra
(mat-rush), and
Romnalda
(both Xanthorrhoeaceae).
Milax Gray, 1855
(mollusk) Named after
Limax
, another mollusk (Linaeus 1758, Martyn 1784, or Ferussac 1819)
Nessiteras rhombopteryx
(Loch Ness monster) Coined by naturalist Sir Peter Scott [in a letter to Nature, 1/15/1979]. Literally, it means "Ness monster with rhomboidal fin". Nicholas Fairbairn noted that it is also an anagram for "Monster hoax by Sir Peter S." Dr. Robert Rines, co-author of the name and obtainer of two possible underwater photographs of Nessie, shot back with his own anagram: "Yes, both pix are Monsters R."
Palaechthon Simpson
,
Palenochtha Simpson
, and
Talpohenach Kay and Cartmill, 1977
(all plesiadapiforms, fossil stem-group primates) Palaechthon means "ancient native." George Gaylord Simpson created a meaningless anagram to name its relative Palenochtha. Kay and Cartmill's names for a third relative, besides being another anagram, is Welsh for "fragment of an ancient lineage."
Ptinus, Niptus, and Tipnus
(Coleopt: Ptinidae)
Pycreus
and
Cyperus
, both members of Cyperaceae.
Rabilimis mirabilis (Brady, 1868)
(ostracod)
Rhamphosternarchus Günther, 1870
and
Sternarchorhamphus Eignemann & Ward, 1905
(both apteronotid fish)
Solubea Bergroth, 1891
(bug) For
Oebalus Stal 1862
, which was a junior homonym.
Tuctoria
named after
Orcuttia
(both grasses)
Ethegotherium Simpson
and
Hegetotherium
(South American fossil mammals, hegetotheriid notoungulates)
Eutatus
and
Utaetus Ameghino
(S. American fossil armadillos),
Macrauchenia
and
Cramauchenia Ameghino
(S. American ungulates),
Toxodon
and
Xotodon Ameghino.
(S. American fossil perissodactyls) Florentino Ameghino was an Argentinian paleontologist; the genus Florentinoameghinia (a lower Eocene mammal) was named after him, as is an Argentine paleontology journal, Ameghiniana.
megachiropteran / cinematographer
(15 letters) and
Marsipobranchiata / basiparachromatin
(17 letters) - Longest well-mixed anagrams. Megachiropteran = fruit bat; Marsipobranchiata = lampreys and hagfish; basiparachromatin = part of cell nucleus.
Palindromes and Reversals
Aka de Laubenfels, 1936
(sponge)
Ala Lockington, 1877
(crust.)
Aoa Nice'ville, 1898
(lep)
Ara de Lacepe`de, 1799
(bird)
Asa Basterot, 1825
(mollusk)
Aza Mulsant, 1850
(beetle)
Anna Risso, 1826
(mollusk)
Atta Frabricius, 1805
(leafcutter ant)
Ababa Casey, 1897
(beetle)
Ainia Jordon, 1919
(fish)
Sidis Pascoe, 1866
(beetle)
Sudus Kissinger, 1964
(weevil)
Aragara Walker, 1860
(fly)
Aidemedia James and Olson, 1991
(Hawaiian drepanidine finch)
Agonopteryx allenella
(oecophorid wasp)
Bibarrambla allenella
(oecophorid moth)
Aha ha Menke, 1988
(sphecid)
Xela alex Thompson, 1999
(syrphid fly)
Orizabus subaziro Ratcliffe
(scarab)
Vegavis iaai Clarke et al. 2005
(Cretaceous bird) Named for the Argentine Antarctica Institute (IAA). [Nature 433: 305]
Eciton Latreille, 1804
(army ant)
Madeleina vokoban Balint and Johnson, 1994
(lycaenid butterfly) A reversal of Nabokov.
Muilla
(wild lily) Named after Allium, its onion/garlic relatives.
Seleborca Andrassy, 1985
(nematode) split from genus Acrobeles
Sibara
(mustard) after
Arabis
, also a mustard.
Rhymes and Alliterations
Adonnadonna primadonna
(siliceous microfossil) Named for a 60's pop song by Dionne & The Belmonts.
Aequorea victoria
(bioluminescent hydromedusa)
Alouatta ululata Elliot, 1912
(howler monkey) Often, though, considered a subspecies, Alouatta belzebub ululata.
Apolysis crisis Evenhuis, 1990
(bee fly)
Alcelaphus buselaphus Pallas, 1766
(hartebeest) A. buselaphus buselaphus, an extinct subspecies, gives a trinomial rhyme.
Bacillus subtilis (Ehrenberg 1835) Cohn, 1872
(bacterium, a mild relative of anthrax)
Cedusa medusa McAtee, 1924
(bug)
Chrysanthemum leucanthemum
(oxeye daisy)
Chrysophora chrysochlora (Latreille)
(scarab)
Gelae belae Miller and Wheeler, 2004
(fungus beetle) See also the other puns on Gelae.
Gymnothorax mordax
(California moray)
Heterosquilla polydactyla
(mantis shrimp)
Iyaiyai Evenhuis, 1994
(fossil chaoborid fly) Evenhuis originally proposed "I" as the genus name (allowed by the ICZN rules), but a chaoborid worker told him he didn't want ever to have to write in a paper that "I have small male genitalia", so Evenhuis changed it to a more Mexican sounding genus name.
Macrotis lagotis Reid, 1837
(Rabbit-eared bandicoot)
Raffia ruffia
(raffia plant) Also noted for having the largest leaves, up to 65.5 ft. long.
Rana bwana Hillis & DeSa, 1988
(South American frog) Named in honor of renowned herpetologist Dr. James R. Dixon. Dixon had many taxa named after him already, so Hillis and DeSa named the frog after Dixon's nickname, "Bwana" Jim.
Saurus soarus
(a gliding lizard)
Charades
Kenothecaster
(fossil starfish) Named by John Branstrator from Greek kenos empty + theke case or box +aster star, since the starfish had incompletely skeletally filled arms. Not coincidentally, his advisor was named Kenneth E. Caster.
Neardisaster
(fossil starfish) From Greek ne not + ardis point + aster star, referring to the absence of distinct edges around the mouth. Both of these names were presented only in an unpublished 1975 PhD dissertation ("Paleobiology and Revision of the Ordovician Asteriadina [Echinodermata: Asteroidea] of the Cincinnati Area") by John Branstrator, so the names are not valid by ICZN rules.
Mimetaster
(Devonian arthropod)
Names of plant families conventionally end with "-aceae". Names of plant tribes end with "-eae". When the root name ends with "-ac", the tribe name appears, falsely, to be a family name:
Tautonyms
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
Of more interest are those cases where the genus and species mean the same thing in two languages:
Anous stolidus
(brown noddy) Gk/La: "stupid"
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"
Arctostaphylos uva-ursi
(bearberry) Gk/La: "berry-of-bear"
Tayassu tajacu
(peccary) Spanish and Portugese transcriptions of the Guarani "tajasu", peccary
Toxotes jaculatrix
(archerfish) Gk/La: "dart-shooter"
Upupa epops Linnaeus, 1758
(hoopoe) in Latin and Greek, respectively.
Ursus arctos
(black 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.
Oxymorons
Alaskozetes antarcticus
(Falkland Islands mite)
Anoura caudifera
(tailed tailless bat)
Brachinus elongatulus Chaudoir, 1876
(bombardier beetle) From Greek Brachyus "short" and Latin elongatus "prolonged". Both refer to the length of the beetle's elytra.
Eriogonum inflatum var. deflatum Johnston
(buckwheat)
Euphoria morosa Janson 1881
(scarab beetle) [Cist. Entomol. 2:581-585, but synonymized with_E. precaria_ by Hardy 2001, Pan-Pac. Entomol. 77:132]
Spottobrotula amaculata Cohen & Nielsen, 1982
(fish) Literally means "Spotted cusk-eel without spots".
Unifolium bifolium Schmidt
(European May lily) Now, alas, synonomized with Maianthemun bifolium.
Mammuthus exilis Stock & Furlong, 1928
(pygmy mammoth) The scientific name means the same as the common name.
Other
Abutilon eremitopetalum
(endangered Hawaiian plant) - Alternating vowels and consonants.
Cytomegaloviruses
- single word alternating vowels and consonants.
Taeniodontidae
(lower Eocene edentate) and
Cicadellidae
(leafhopper) - Two occurrences of each letter.
cimicid, cixiid, dixid
(bedbug, planthopper, midge) - All Roman numerals for letters. (If you allow 'u', you can add
Illicium, culicid
(evergreen, mosquito).)
Armadillidiidae
(pill bugs) - Nine consecutive Roman numeral letters.
Bacillicidic
(destructive to bacilli) has ten consecutive Roman numeral letters.
Fabaceae
(legumes) - Letters are hexadecimal digits (A-F). (0xfabaceae = 4206546606.)
Hamamelidaceae
(witch-hazel) - Letters from 1st half of alphabet.
Hoffmannseggella Jones, 1968
(orchid) - Four different doubled letters.
Leuhea seemannii
(Panamanian tree) - 3 doubled letters out of 9 letters.
leucocytozoans
(protozoa parasitic on birds) - Typed with right and left hands alternating.
Prorhipidoglossomorpha
(branch of molluscs) - 22 letters, no 'e'.
Common Names
Although they are not officially recognized taxonomy, some common names are too interesting not to mention.
auks, skua
- one type of bird a reversal of the other.
dividivi
(Caesalpina coriaria, a tropical American tree) longest word composed of Roman numeral letters.
watercresses
- typed only with left hand.
Johnny-jump-up
(violet, e.g. Viola tricolor) - typed only with right hand.
pepperroot
(Dentaria lacinata),
pepperwort
(Marsileaceae, a marsh fern),
pewterwort
(Equisetum), and
poppywort
(Meconopsis) - typed with only top row of keys. "Poppyworts" also uses letters only from the second half of the alphabet.
alfalfas
- typed with only middle row of keys.
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