# Your favorite scientific names of plants/animals **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 20, 2014, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-scientific-names-of-plants-animals/696001 "2014-08-20T14:59:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_great_unwashed/32/4791_2.png) [@The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-scientific-names-of-plants-animals/696001/21 "2014-08-20T21:03:38Z")
_Ursus Arctos Arctos_ because I love the fact that the continent is named after a (different), um…, “ursus” and not the other way around. Also _gorilla gorilla gorilla_ gets points for not being a bison. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_great_unwashed/32/4791_2.png) [@The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-scientific-names-of-plants-animals/696001/22 "2014-08-20T21:13:47Z")
> [@Teuton](#): > > In a similar vein, the Eurasian Wren is _Troglodytes troglodytes_, and the Northern Wren is _Troglodytes troglodytes troglodytes_. > > I also like _Falco subbuteo_, the Hobby, which leant its name to the table football game after the designer was unable to call the game “Hobby”. Whoa! +1 trivia. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-scientific-names-of-plants-animals/696001/23 "2014-08-20T21:19:11Z")
_Upupa epops_ is definitely one of my favorites. But _Ajaia ajaja_, the Roseate Spoonbill, is also quite euphonious. _Spinus pinus_, for the Pine Siskin, is also rather nice. _Zyzzyx chilensis_, a sand wasp, sounds kind of buzzy. _Zimmerius vilissimus_, the Paltry Tyrannulet, is a very small, boring, gray bird. The specific name means “most vile,” no doubt bequeathed by a frustrated ornithologist after a long day sorting through trays of nearly indistinguishable little flycatchers. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-scientific-names-of-plants-animals/696001/24 "2014-08-20T21:26:11Z")
> [@Teuton](#): > > In a similar vein, the Eurasian Wren is _Troglodytes troglodytes_, and the Northern Wren is _Troglodytes troglodytes troglodytes_. And the wren is called a cave-dweller because it often puts it’s nest in a hole in a wall or a crevice. Then there’s the Chimpanzee _Pan troglodytes_, after the god of the wilderness and its supposed cave-dwelling habits. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-scientific-names-of-plants-animals/696001/25 "2014-08-20T22:32:06Z")
_Metasequoia glyptostroboides_. Dawn redwood. I just like saying it. ---
**Author:** ![Phnord\_Prephect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df705f/32.png) [@Phnord\_Prephect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phnord_Prephect)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-scientific-names-of-plants-animals/696001/26 "2014-08-20T23:26:23Z")
> [@CheshireKat](#): > > My [Jethro Tull coreopsis](http://www.perennialresource.com/encyclopedia/view/?plant=1518). I bought it the minute I saw the ID tag. > > Doing some research, the plant was most likely named after [this man](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jethro_Tull_(agriculturist)), not the rock band. > > Not sure if this is the official scientific name, but I love it. From the article: “Many people see ‘[Jethro Tull](http://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_band/719.jpg)’ PP18789 as an improvement over ‘[Zamfir](http://www.recordsale.de/cdpix/g/gheorghe_zamfir-the_great_zamfir_-_master_of_the_pan-flute.jpg)’ since its petals are more consistently [fluted](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flute)…” I don’t care who you are, that’s funny right there! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-scientific-names-of-plants-animals/696001/27 "2014-08-20T23:40:02Z")
_Trillium erectum_ is a nice one. I’ve often thought that if I were to take a hippie name, it wouldn’t be Willow or River or Silverwolf Ravenmoon, but just the simple Trillium. One that always makes me giggle is _Marrubium vulgare_, or horehound. When in herb school, I’d remember it as “you marry a bum, you’ll get vulgare\* from some whore hounding him…” 😃 \*Not a real thing, but it sounds like a venereal disease, doesn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-scientific-names-of-plants-animals/696001/28 "2014-08-20T23:46:41Z")
I did once scream in the car: _[“Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus!”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow-headed_blackbird)_ It was true, but not helpful to those around me. ---
**Author:** ![slowlearner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@slowlearner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slowlearner)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-scientific-names-of-plants-animals/696001/29 "2014-08-21T00:40:08Z")
Ipomoea quamoclit, the cypress vine I’ve grown for decades, and Corvus cristatus, name for the bluejay in Audubon’s day. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-scientific-names-of-plants-animals/696001/30 "2014-08-21T00:58:49Z")
I almost forgot:\* [Dracorex hogwartsia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dracorex)\*. The Hogwarts dragon. It’s a recently discovered dinosaur from the late Cretaceous, and the skull is here in Indianapolis, at the Children’s Museum (which is a surprisingly good museum, even for adults, if anyone is ever in Indy for some reason and has some time to kill). Of known dinosaurs, this one really (probably) did [bear some resemblance to legendary dragons](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dracorex#mediaviewer/File:Dracorex_BW.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![c\_carol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@c\_carol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/c_carol)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-scientific-names-of-plants-animals/696001/31 "2014-08-21T01:14:08Z")
I like “_Lama glama_”. ---
**Author:** ![Julius\_Henry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8797f3/32.png) [@Julius\_Henry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Julius_Henry)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-scientific-names-of-plants-animals/696001/32 "2014-08-21T01:33:18Z")
An extinct vampire bat, quite a bit larger than any existing vampire bats, was named _Desmodus draculae_. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-scientific-names-of-plants-animals/696001/33 "2014-08-21T02:13:44Z")
A colleague of mine named a bolas spider, which catches prey by throwing a sticky ball of webbing at them, [_Mastophora dizzydeani_](http://mentalfloss.com/sites/default/legacy/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/540dizzy.png) after the baseball pitcher. I’ve always loved him for that. [Aplatophis zorro,](http://www.discoverlife.org/IM/I_RR/0022/320/Aplatophis_zorro,I_RR2289.jpg) the Snaggle-toothed Snake-Eel, was named by a another colleague after Zorro because of the Z-shaped marking on its cheek. ---
**Author:** ![troubledwater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@troubledwater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/troubledwater)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-scientific-names-of-plants-animals/696001/34 "2014-08-21T02:28:56Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > _Metasequoia glyptostroboides_. Dawn redwood. I just like saying it. I came in to say this one! And I actually have gotten to use it a couple of times - there is one in the main park in my hometown, and there was one on my college campus. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-scientific-names-of-plants-animals/696001/35 "2014-08-21T03:12:36Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > A colleague of mine named a bolas spider, which catches prey by throwing a sticky ball of webbing at them, [_Mastophora dizzydeani_](http://mentalfloss.com/sites/default/legacy/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/540dizzy.png) after the baseball pitcher. I’ve always loved him for that. When I looked up that spider, I found a link to this interesting Wiki list: > **[List of organisms named after famous people](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_animals_named_after_celebrities)** > > In biological nomenclature, organisms often receive scientific names that honor a person. A taxon (e.g., species or genus; plural: taxa) named in honor of another entity is an eponymous taxon, and names specifically honoring a person or persons are known as patronyms. Scientific names are generally formally published in peer-reviewed journal articles or larger monographs along with descriptions of the named taxa and ways to distinguish them from other taxa. Following rules of Latin grammar, spe... ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-scientific-names-of-plants-animals/696001/36 "2014-08-21T03:16:24Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > _Metasequoia glyptostroboides_. Dawn redwood. I just like saying it. Hey, that was my one! You’ll have to share it. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-scientific-names-of-plants-animals/696001/37 "2014-08-21T03:33:36Z")
_[Boops boops](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boops_boops)_ - although the actual pronunciation (bo ops bo ops) is less fun that ‘boops boops’, it’s still fun to say. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-scientific-names-of-plants-animals/696001/38 "2014-08-21T03:45:47Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > When I looked up that spider, I found a link to this interesting Wiki list: > > [List of organisms named after famous people - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_animals_named_after_celebrities) It’s missing _Ami bladesi_, a[pink tarantula](http://arachnids.lifedesks.org/image/view/32) named after salsa singer Ruben Blades. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-scientific-names-of-plants-animals/696001/39 "2014-08-21T03:48:27Z")
As a confirmed chocoholic I like it that the tree that produces the cocoa bean is _theobroma cacao_, which means, in Greek, “food of the gods” ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-scientific-names-of-plants-animals/696001/40 "2014-08-21T04:00:12Z")
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