One of our local grasshoppers is a Northern Ungee-gungee. Wish I knew what the translation is.
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Noolbenger and wambenger. What are nool and wam and how do you beng them?
Confused flour beetle. Confused is not the beetleâs state of mind; itâs called that because itâs easy to confuse it with another species.
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Clearly it should have been Confusing Flour Beetle, to go along with Pleasing Fungus Beetle. Even so, a pretty ridiculous name!
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Another is sad ground crab spider
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Music-loving Moth
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A scientist caught this moth, put it in a glass box, blasted hard rock on the loudest setting, and the moth started fluttering about. The scientist then inferred that the moth was dancing, and therefore liked the music.
(This is just a zany story I made up on the spot, not the real tale of the origin of this mothâs name.)
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Wait, what? Why?
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Musical Furry Lobster
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According to Wikipedia (not a great source, but itâs the best I could find) This is because the larvae can bore into dried/cured meats: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Necrobia_rufipes
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Western Bellybutton Hedgehog seems an odd name to me. Itâs fungus, one Iâd call a mushroom.
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the horned screamer is pretty weird, its a bird species with a cartilage horn on itâs head. also hereâs this crazy long name for a Hawaiian fish species: humuhumunukunukuapuaâa aka the reef triggerfish
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How disappointing⌠I was hoping it would be a dragon!
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it definitely sounds like a dragon name
Smallest flightless bird in the world
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Extant flightless bird, there were some other smaller species that are recently extinct.
I came across Chondropyga dorsalis while identifying today, which apparently has the common name, âCowboy Beetleâ. Not sure what inspired the name though.
Hereâs something I wrote a few years ago.
How are all these binomial names decided?
During a biological survey a while ago we had a bit of down time. Some of us started doodling on a white-board - the funny and sometimes quite bizzarre origins of the binomial names that have been given to animals and plants.
For a quick look at the complexities of Latin, google âlife of Brianâ + âRomans go homeâ. Luckily we
donât need that depth, but it helps to know some words, without the grammar. Tympanocryptus
means Eardrums hidden, so we might guess something earless. Anything carpus is to do with the
seed / kernel / nut. Tetra anything is four of them.
Most commonly, Greek and Latin words are used, but donât expect any consistency. The common brown snake, Pseudonaja textilis, has a bit of Greek: pseudo = not genuine; a bit of Sanscrit: naja = cobra (it stands up and spreads a hood when alarmed); and a bit of Latin: textilis = like a cloth. So Pseudonaja textilis = false cobra with a woven skin.
Other names will have a bit of French, a bit of Old English, a bit of German, Swahili, Inuktitut,
Malayan â all sorts.
The placement of a word-part seems arbitrary, although John Cleese might argue. Cryptoblepharus = hidden eyelids. Tympanocryptus = eardrum hidden.
There are lots of names of famous people, eg stoksii, freelingii, geoffroii, duttonii, mcdonaldi, (yes,
only one âIâ â again, John Cleese would understand).
Sometimes the name refers to what something looks like â Grevillea rosmarinifolia has leaves that look like
rosemary leaves. Acacia myrtifolia - leaves like a myrtle.
Petrogale xanthopus is a funny one. Petro = rock (Gk); gale = weasel or ferret (Gk); xanth = yellow (Gk); pus = feet (Gk). It seems to have been named by somebody who had read the classics, but wasnât a biologist. Rock Sida (Sida petrophila) could have been named by the same person. Sida = pomegranite tree or water lily (Lat), petro = rock, phila = lover.
Tiliqua seems to have no basis, just a nice sounding word that somebody made up. So our common blue-tongue, Tiliqua scincoides, is the Tiliqua that looks like a skink (which it is). That makes sense when you compare it to a sleepy lizard, Tiliqua rugosa. Rugosa = rough, and arguably doesnât look like a skink (which it still is).
For Melaleuca, honey-myrtle, the Mel is probably black (Gk), but could refer to honey (Lat).
A few years ago, Dr Google provided lots of links explaining the etymology of Acacia victoriae (elegant wattle). In flower it looked like the gorgeous cream wedding gown of Queen Victoria. That makes sense. Looks lovely on the outside, but if youâve ever walked onto one you know prickly and unforgiving it is. And while Iâve never seen Queen Victoria naked, (thereâll be a web site somewhere), the plant, when not in flower, is the scruffiest and most untidy youâll ever see. More recently Dr Google seems to have changed his mind. It seems the type specimen was named for the Victoria River, Qld, by an explorer who was lost, actually on the Barcoo River. So Acacia barcoo might be more appropriate.
And the famous comedy team contributes a bit more: Montypythonoides riverleighensis, a large
extinct python from Riversleigh, Qld, and the ensis bit also refers to geographical origin.
Eucalyptus camaldulensis is latin. Eu = good, proper, and calypsus = bud cap. Well covered the bud cap, from Camaldoli, Italy. The type specimen for this very common Australian tree was first described in a garden in Italy.
So why do we have all these weird and often meaningless names, when common names are just as
good? Well, depending where you travel, a blue-tongue can be a Tiliqua scincoides, a Tiliqua rugosa, or any other local animal with a blue tongue. A cabbage tree can be an Arecacea (palm), a Cordyline, a tree fern, or a Xanthorrhoea. In Victoria, manuka can be an Acacia, but in most places manuka is Leptospermum scoparium. Which is also called a tea-tree, but so are lots of other things.
So the reason we need the admittedly awkward and often meaningless binomial names is that they are unique, like car number plates. Meaningless, but unique. So a Peruvian ecologist and a Botswanan zoologist at a conference in Helsinki can be sure they are talking about the same thing.
But the names keep changing. Some Cassias became Sennas. Some Egernias became Liopholis. A Western Brown Snake is now 4 different species. Casuarinas became 4 genera (or in english, genuses), including Allocasuarina. Allo = other (Gk). That happens when a lot of experts get together and argue about whether the sub-types are just local variations, or actually meaningfully different. Or sometimes things that looked the same under a microscope turn out to have quite different DNA.
Australian Acacias were found to be quite different from the African type species, and under the rules of naming, all 900 Australian Acacias should have been re-named, because the African one was the first named. But after a bit of argey-bargey, the numbers won, we got to keep the name, and lots of African botanists are pretty grumpy that they had to rename the type species.
Among NZ Moas, there was a big species and a small species, until DNA showed them to be male & female of the same species. Many Australian native bees were similarly mislabelled.
So letâs see if we can untangle and understand the names of some of the things we found, and find
the commonalities in their meanings.
Tympanocryptis tetraporophora eardrum (Gk) hidden (Gk) four (Gk) pores (Gk)
Cryptoblepharus australis hidden (Gk) eyelid (Gk) southern (Lat)
Pseudonaja textilis false (Gk) cobra (Sanscrit) with a woven skin (Lat, textile, weave)
Pseudonaja aspidorhyncha false (Gk) cobra (Sanscrit) shield or shovel (Gk) snout or nose (Gk).
And by the way, that âshieldâ was Greek. âShieldâ in Latin is is scut, so the Tiger snake, Notechis scutatus has shield-like scales.
Underwoodisaurus milii Mr Underwoodâs lizard (Gk) honouring Mr Milius
Xanthorrhoea quadrangulata yellow (Gk) flow (Gk) four-sided (Lat) (-cross section of leaves)
Acacia tetragonophylla prickly (Lat) four-sided (Gk) leaf (Gk)
Exocarpos aphyllus outside (Gk) seeds (Gk) (the seed is on the outside) without (Gk) leaves (Gk)
Eremophila alternifolia desert (Gk) lover (Gk) alternating (Middle English) leaves (Lat)
Eremophila maculata desert (Gk) lover (Gk) spotted (Lat)
These both have alternate leaves, and they both have spotted flowers, so either name could apply to
either species. But as required, each gets a unique name.
Eremophila oppositifolia desert (Gk) lover (Gk) paired or set against (Old French) leaves (Lat)
Sida petrophila pomegranite tree or water lilly (Lat) rock (Gk) lover (Gk)
And just to avoid confusion here, phyll (Gk) refers to leaf, phil (Gk) refers to lover, phyl (Gk) refers
to tribe or group.
Macropus robustus long (Gk) feet (Gk) robust (Lat)
Oh! No! These have recently been renamed Osphranter, a group of experts having decided that a group of animals was sufficiently different from Macropus as to need a new name.
Petrogale xanthopus rock (Gk) weasel or ferret (Gk) yellow (Gk) feet (Gk)
Suta suta stitched stitched (Lat) referring to the appearance of the skin.
Parasuta nigriceps near or similar to(Gk) Suta (Lat) black (Lat) head (Lat). Similar to the genus Suta.
Pittosporum angustifolium pitch or sticky (Gk) seed (Gk) narrow (Lat) leaf (Lat) Sadly, nothing to do with
the lead guitarist of ACDC.
Melaleuca glomerata black(Gk) white(Gk) heaped (Lat) referring to the flowers. Named for black trunk, white branches. Here mel means black (Gk), but elswhere mel means honey or sweet (Lat).
Codonocarpus pyramidalis bell (Gk) fruit (Gk) pyramidal (Gk)
Casuarina pauper cassowary (Malay) (branchlets look like cassowary feathers) poor (Lat)
And while weâre on a roll, a quick walk around the Eremophila section of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens will reveal:-
Eremophila anomala deviating from the norm (Lat) (lacks white hairs that its relatives have)
E. attenuata attenuated (Lat) (part of the flower is smaller than expected)
E. aureivisca gold (Lat) sticky (Lat) (gold coloured resin on leaves) Remember xanth was gold in Greek.
E. bigoniiflora looking like bigonia, flowers (Lat)
E. brevifolia short (Lat) leaves (Lat)
E. ciliata having hair-like projections (Lat) (on a part of the flower)
E. compacta compact (Lat) (shape of plant)
E. denticulata having small teeth (Lat)
E. divaricata spread out (Lat) (shape of plant)
E. foliosissima very leafy (Lat)
E. glabra smooth, hairless (Lat) (possibly the ovaries)
E. glutinosa sticky (Lat) (leaves) Remember pitto was sticky in Greek
E. granitica growing on granite (and other) soils
E. lactea milky (Lat) (substance appears on branches & leaves)
E. metallicorum of miners (Lat) (originally found in a mining area)
E. micrantha small (Gk) flower (Gk)
E. parvifolia small (Lat) leaves (Lat)
E. polyclada many (Gk) stem (Gk)
E. pterocarpa winged (Gk) fruit (Gk)
E. scaberula rough (Lat)
E. scabrous rough (Lat)
E. scoparia thin twigs, broom (Lat)
E. spectabilis notable, remarkable (Lat)
E. spinescens thorn (Lat) becoming (Lat) (they get prickly with age)
E. subfloccosa somewhat (Lat) wooly tufted (Lat)
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Some years ago, there was sone discussion on the Aroid listserv as to the origin of the specific epithet seguine in Dieffenbachia seguine. Now, according to Penelope Honychurch, âsiguineâ is the colloquial name for not just Dieffenbachia, but also two species of wild Anthurium, variously in Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Dominica. But what does it mean? It isnât a standard French word.
Love that fish.
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Definitely has a monkey face.
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