# Goodbye, Montypythonoides!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-montypythonoides/389729>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [January 27, 2007, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-montypythonoides/389729 "2007-01-27T16:04:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2007, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-montypythonoides/389729/1 "2007-01-27T16:04:04Z")

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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](http://home.earthlink.net/~misaak/taxonomy/taxEtym.html).

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.  
> \*\*Fregata minor \*\* (greater frigate bird) It was originally named Pelecanus minor, the little pelican; when moved to a new genus, priority demanded that it still be called minor. The lesser frigate is F. ariel.  
> \*\*Oedipus rex \*\* (salamander)  
> **Jenghizkhan** Olshevsky vide Olshevsky, Ford & Yamamoto, 1995 (Mongolian tyrannosaurid) named for Genghis Khan. (now syn. with Tarbosaurus)

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**Author:** ![kung\_fu\_lola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f4b2a3/32.png) [@kung\_fu\_lola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kung_fu_lola)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2007, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-montypythonoides/389729/2 "2007-01-27T16:18:03Z")

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Who could forget \*[Dracorex hogwartsia\*](http://www.childrensmuseum.org/dinosphere/draco_rex/index.html)?

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**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2007, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-montypythonoides/389729/3 "2007-01-27T16:33:28Z")

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Uhh, isn’t Tarbosaurus obsolete as a name ? I thought it had been replaced by _Tyrannosaurus bataar_ ?

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**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2007, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-montypythonoides/389729/4 "2007-01-27T16:34:18Z")

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My favorite has always been: _Strigiphilus garylarsoni_.

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**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2007, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-montypythonoides/389729/5 "2007-01-27T17:19:56Z")

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**Polycarp** , that site is a riot.

[QUOTE=Tuckerfan]  
My favorite has always been: _Strigiphilus garylarsoni_.  
[/QUOTE]

Gary Larson, that lucky bastard, has 3 species named after him!