I love weird or funny species names, but I’ve recently noticed how many of them are actually named after other animals or plants. I suppose some of them are named that way because of a connection between the species, like an anteater eats ants, or a horseweed is eaten by horses??, but lots seem to …

[image] ericakeklak: owlflies they aren’t owls or flies, but they are antlions, which aren’t ants or lions!

[image] tcriley: Sparklemuffin Peacock Spider That sounded like something some sort of toddlers’ doll or cat name or something silly until I clicked on the link, and oh! it was totally appropriate for the cute lil muffin! :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

[image] clightowler: Turkey-tail fungus Turkey vulture!!

Crowpoison (A plant) https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/334128265 Dixie reindeer lichen https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/333899575 Sycamore seed bug (Looks like a sycamore seed? I don’t know, I’m not terribly knowledgable about how things were named :)) https://www.inaturalist.org/ob…

Most of the species I’m interested in don’t have an English name. One of my favourite Latin names (because it is just fun to say) goes to the fly Polyporivora polypori , which would translate to something like “polypore eater of the polypore”.

[image] mkanimallover: Sycamore seed bug Named after the food source. This is actually a fairly common way of naming animals that are closely associated with a particular host. This is often reflected in the epitheton as well as the common name: true bugs, e.g.: Eurydema oleracea (cabbages…

Bulbophyllum phalaenopsis , orchid species named after another orchid genus. Gastrodia bambu was named after the Indonesian word for, well, bamboo, because it grows near patches of bamboo. And one theory (for which I cannot find where I read it) says that the genus Aa was named after the first and …

Fun species named after other species

Nature Talk

shreedave January 14, 2026, 5:28am 17

Monkey Moth is a pretty funny one. I don’t know how it’s supposed to be related to a monkey.

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Fun species named after other species

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