www.CuriousTaxonomy.net
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Curiosities of Biological Nomenclature
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Mark Isaak
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Puns: Plays on Familiar Words
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Circus dossenus Olson and James, 1991
(harrier hawk) "Latin, dossenus, a clown or jester, without which one
cannot have a circus." [Descr. of 32 n. spp. of birds from the
Hawaiian Islands: I. Non-Passeriformes (Ornith. Monographs 45):
65]
Diastolinus this and
D. that Steiner, 2006 (darkling beetles)
"The specific name 'this' is from the Greek word meaning
'shore' or 'beach' in reference to the habitat of the
beetle. . . ." D. that is named for the English pronoun,
because it is found further away (inland) from D. this.
[Zootaxa 1158: 24-29.]
Electrona (lanternfish)
Hummbrella S.A.Earle 1969 (red alga) Named
for Dr. Humm.
Meteoria (deep-sea fish)
Obama Carbayo et al., 2013 (planarian) Not
named after President Obama. The name derives from Tupi oba,
"leaf", + ma, "animal", alluding to the Brazilian flatworm's
leaf-shaped body. [Zool. Scripta 42: 523]
Ostentator Jaennicke, 1867 (bombyliid fly,
synonym)
Pantydraco (prosauropod dinosaur) from
Pant-y-ffynnon Quarry in Wales.
Problema (skipper)
Smilodonichthys rastrosus Cavender and Miller,
1972 (Miocene sabertooth salmon) Named for Smilodon, the
sabre-toothed cat genus. A synonym of Oncorhynchus
rastrosus.
Tyrannasorus rex Ratcliffe and Ocampo, 2001
(Miocene hybosorid scarab from Dominican amber) The dinosaur is spelled
Tyrannosaurus. [Coleop. Bull. 55:351]
Tyrannoberingius rex Maricovich, 1981
(Miocene snail) It is several times larger than living Beringius
species. [J Paleontol 55(1): 176]
Tyrannochthonius rex Harvey, 1989
(pseudoscorpion)
Tyrannomyrmex rex Fernández, 2003
(Malaysian ant) [Zootaxa 341:1]
Tyrannobdella rex Phillips, Siddal, et al.,
2010 (Peruvian leech) "We named it that because of it's enormous
teeth."
Vertebrata S.F. Gray, 1821 (red alga)
There is also, of course, a subphylum Vertebrata for animals with
backbones.
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Mark Isaak.
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