# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2021, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-scientific-names-of-plants-animals/696001/81 "2021-09-24T08:32:27Z")
An Australian entomologist has name flies after Beyoncé and RuPaul: _Scaptia beyonceae_ _Opaluma rupaul_ [‘Rainbow colours and legs for days’: Australian fly species named after drag star RuPaul](https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/sep/15/rainbow-colours-and-legs-for-days-australian-fly-species-named-after-drag-star-rupaul) ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2021, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-scientific-names-of-plants-animals/696001/82 "2021-09-25T00:47:32Z")
Since I missed this thread the first time out, I’ll mention the most beautiful botanical name I know, Liquidambar styraciflua, the sweet gum tree. Representing the animal kingdom, the death’s head hawk moth, Acherontia styx, named for two rivers in Hell.\* \*featured in Silence of the Lambs. ---
**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:** [September 25, 2021, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-scientific-names-of-plants-animals/696001/83 "2021-09-25T03:12:53Z")
Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus. [![](https://www.wildbirdgallery.com/images/birds/xanthocephalus_xanthocephalus/xanthocephalus2_7639.jpg) ](https://www.wildbirdgallery.com/images/birds/xanthocephalus_xanthocephalus/xanthocephalus2_7639.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2021, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-scientific-names-of-plants-animals/696001/84 "2021-09-25T05:33:12Z")
_Boutros Boutros-Ghali_ ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2021, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-scientific-names-of-plants-animals/696001/85 "2021-09-25T07:16:12Z")
_Acledra nazgul_, a species of insect. ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2021, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-scientific-names-of-plants-animals/696001/86 "2021-09-26T02:35:44Z")
That insect must have been named by a Tolkien fan? And it does look a bit ominous, fitting the Nazgul vibe One of my faves is the European common toad: _Bufo bufo_. The repetition makes it sound especially toad-like. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2021, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-scientific-names-of-plants-animals/696001/87 "2021-09-27T13:43:41Z")
While it’s not a scientific name, the African violet cultivar I recently acquired that has brilliant scarlet flowers, is named “Ma’s Crime Scene”. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2021, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-scientific-names-of-plants-animals/696001/88 "2021-09-27T17:38:39Z")
There’s a type of fly named _Dicrotendipes thanatogratus_ – “thanatogratus” literally means Grateful Dead. Of course the entomologist who named it, [Dr. John Epler](http://johnepler.com/), was a Dead Head. And also a friend of my Dad (who is a retired entomologist himself). Supposedly Dr. Epler also named an insect after my Dad, as a result of Dad winning a bet with him. Or at least he added him to his list of people he’s going to name insects after. I’m not sure if he’s ever gotten around to actually naming one after him yet. ---
**Author:** ![Esturionette](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9d8465/32.png) [@Esturionette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esturionette)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2021, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-scientific-names-of-plants-animals/696001/89 "2021-09-28T22:33:47Z")
I recently read a [fascinating article](https://www.audubon.org/news/meet-greater-honeyguide-bird-understands-humans) about the Greater Honeyguide and how skilled it is at leading humans to wild honeybees. The Latin name of the bird? Indicator indicator. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2021, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-scientific-names-of-plants-animals/696001/90 "2021-09-28T23:07:12Z")
I’ve always thought that the good old fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, sounds like a fitting pair of names for an evil witch and the wise old wizard who’s her archnemesis. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2021, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-scientific-names-of-plants-animals/696001/91 "2021-09-28T23:19:10Z")
_Pinus longaeva_ (heh-heh), or the Bristlecone Pine. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2021, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-scientific-names-of-plants-animals/696001/92 "2021-09-29T15:00:48Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I’ve always thought that the good old fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, sounds like a fitting pair of names for an evil witch and the wise old wizard who’s her archnemesis. Ooh. I like that. What do the individual name elements mean? Could they be included in the story premise somehow? ---
**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:** [October 16, 2021, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-scientific-names-of-plants-animals/696001/93 "2021-10-16T23:38:18Z")
_Melano_ is dark, like melanin. _Gaster_ is belly, like gastric. So dark-belly. ETA: _Drosophila_ is dew-loving. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2021, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-scientific-names-of-plants-animals/696001/94 "2021-10-17T00:05:39Z")
There’s always your _Lacera nyarlathotepi_. But the other week I ran across a truly spectacular species name, none of your low-grade puns or anything like that, which I cannot recall exactly ☹ ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2021, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-scientific-names-of-plants-animals/696001/95 "2021-10-18T14:38:02Z")
You can’t beat _homo erectus._ I like the old roadrunner cartoons where they have silly scientific names like the road runner being _Velocitus delectiblus_ and the coyote being _Famishius vulgaris ingenuisi_. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2021, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-scientific-names-of-plants-animals/696001/96 "2021-10-18T14:40:21Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > You can’t beat _homo erectus._ https://www.youtube.com/embed/TZy0Te5hCdY?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&list=RDTZy0Te5hCdY ---
**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:** [October 18, 2021, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-scientific-names-of-plants-animals/696001/97 "2021-10-18T15:36:36Z")
I’m pleased by the minor resurgence of Kinky Friedman posts on the board. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-scientific-names-of-plants-animals/696001/98 "2021-10-19T08:32:50Z")
I came here to write that this name was given by Linaeus himself and was meant to derise the Count of Buffon, a typical pique of the time: both men seem to have hated each other. The story may be [apocryphal](http://www.wright.edu/~harry.khamis/buffons_needle_problem/). ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-scientific-names-of-plants-animals/696001/99 "2021-10-19T08:41:07Z")
And, of course, as every German knows, there is The **[stone louse](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_louse)** ( _Petrophaga lorioti_, in German **Steinlaus** ), with an interesting story about things you can sneak into a dictionary that become so appreciated by the cognoscendi that they stay in subsequent editions as an insider joke. A German joke, go figure! Alas, no longer! The [Pschyrembel Klinisches Wörterbuch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pschyrembel_Klinisches_W%C3%B6rterbuch) has expunged it. ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@Mark\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-scientific-names-of-plants-animals/696001/100 "2021-10-19T11:33:35Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > You can’t beat _homo erectus._ > > I like the old roadrunner cartoons where they have silly scientific names like the road runner being _Velocitus delectiblus_ and the coyote being _Famishius vulgaris ingenuisi_. [Here](https://looneytunes.fandom.com/wiki/Latin_Names) is a list of all the “phony” Latin/scientific coyote/roadrunner names found in the cartoons. (the scientific name for a generic roadrunner is “geococcyx”, and a generic coyote is “canis latrans”). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-scientific-names-of-plants-animals/696001.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-scientific-names-of-plants-animals/696001.md?page=6)