I’m sure you will all be saddened to know that Montypythonoides , the extinct giant Pleistocene python of Australia, is no longer known by that name. But I found a fascinating collection of Oddities of Zoological Nomenclature .
Some samples:
Eubetia boop Brown (tortricid moth)Godzillius Yager, 1986 (remipede crustacean) These are the largest such crustaceans, from underwater caves in the Bahamas. The family Godzilliidae takes its name from this genus.Han solo Turvey 2005 (agnostid trilobite) Officially, the genus is named after the Han Chinese (the fossil is from northern Hunan Province, China), and the species is so named because it appears to represent the last surviving member of the Diplagnostidae. Really, Turvey’s friends dared him to name a species after a Star Wars character, as most of the characters’ names sound like scientific names. [Trans. Royal Soc. Edinburgh: Earth Sci. 95: 527-542]Agra sasquatch Erwin, 1982 (carabid) with big feet.Agra yeti Erwin, 1982 (carabid) sister species of A. sasquatch.Galaxias gollumoides (fresh-water fish) Named after Gollum because it has large eyes and was found in a swamp.Diplocriterion yoyo (trace fossil) It loops up and down.Phallus impudicus Linnaeus (stinkhorn fungus, family Phallaceae) There is also Phallus daemonicum.Arfia Van Valen, 1965 (a dog-like fossil hyaenodont)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.Jenghizkhan Olshevsky vide Olshevsky, Ford & Yamamoto, 1995 (Mongolian tyrannosaurid) named for Genghis Khan. (now syn. with Tarbosaurus)
detop
January 27, 2007, 4:33pm
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Uhh, isn’t Tarbosaurus obsolete as a name ? I thought it had been replaced by Tyrannosaurus bataar ?
My favorite has always been: Strigiphilus garylarsoni .
Polycarp , that site is a riot.
Gary Larson, that lucky bastard, has 3 species named after him!