I used to often go through lists, google searches, and so on looking for funny/weird animal names. I have made quite a few lists already, and I thought I would make a post here to see if some of you know some good ones. plants and fungi also welcome :) Here are some of my favorites that I can fin…

That’s just an orthographic error, I’ve swapped “spinosa” to the correct “spinosus”. Thanks for pointing it out.

Yes, that’s why I included this name in the list. It’s something poorly understood with a buttock reference in it’s scientific name. One can only guess what the authors meant when they named this taxon. But the real etymology of the fossil’s name is still unclear.

For both Han solo and Bulbasaurus, it’s obvious that they were named after said characters, those scientists are just looking for excuses to say they had a scientific reason.

[image] raymie: For both Han solo and Bulbasaurus, it’s obvious that they were named after said characters Hey, if the geneticists can publish hundreds of papers on Sonic hedgehog…

Orgyia antiqua reminds me of ancient orgia, although I know that the etymology is different (except for antiqua).

Too bad the counterpart thread on plant names is closed, because we’re getting a lot of those in this thread now.

Oops, I forgot it was supposed to be animals only.

0 observations :( My day is ruined (PS. Probably because they’re hard to find or you need microscopes to ID)

There’s a species of jumping spider called “The Murderer”.

Funny, long, or just plain weird animal names

Nature Talk

fluffyinca November 2, 2021, 5:06pm 299

Pink Thoroughwort (Fleischmannia incarnata)

Topic		Replies	Views
Interesting, funny, weird, e.t.c. plant names Nature Talk mostly-humor , fun , common-names , silliness	53	13936	July 9, 2026
Great, funny, or weird species names in other languages Nature Talk	38	15828	October 18, 2020
Organisms named after other organisms Nature Talk silliness	49	3481	January 2, 2021
New Names for old friends. How much to cut and how much to paste Nature Talk	20	958	July 9, 2022
Taxa with fairytale-esque names Nature Talk	70	2995	July 5, 2022

Funny, long, or just plain weird animal names

Related topics