Funny, long, or just plain weird animal names

Nature Talk
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815

Names ending in “-pus” usually have a long /u:/ and a plural in “-podes”, because it means “foot” in Greek. It is possible, though, for something ending in “-pus” to be second-declension with a short /u/ and a plural in “-pi”, third-declension neuter with a plural in “-pera”, or fourth-declension with a short /u/ in the singular and long /u:/ in the plural. I guess the plural is Auplopodes, but I don’t know what “auplo” could mean, and neither Wikipedia nor Wiktionary has a clue. I can’t ask Spinola, he died in 1857.

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Yeah, and every one misses on Duffer butterflies, especially the Great Duffer - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?taxon_id=145619&view=species

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There are also genera named after spirits, one example being Pisacha (A planthopper)

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Wow, okay, that’s interesting!! I’ll have to keep that in mind! :smiley:

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Saw my first batman moth, was really cute but I’m not really a big fan of the name :laughing: :smiley:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/319571504

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There are the Johnny Cash tarantula and the differential grasshopper. Which reminds me of a riddle I made up: What do you get when you cross four-wheel drive with integration by parts?

A rear differential and a front integral.

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This thread has been up awhile so it is possible someone already mention this common bird: Killdeer-it does not kill deer.

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Here is another one with a funny name: White-breasted Nuthatch

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Laughing Giant Caddisfly

I’ve seen one, detected no laughter…

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There’s a kind of snake called “falsas coralillos reales” (“falsas” agrees with the implied noun “serpientes” or “culebras”) in Spanish. “Real” can mean “real”, in which case it’s self-contradictory, but it can also mean “royal”.

The Little Prince is not an animal, but a mushroom. IIRR the Little Prince met in his travels a man who he said was a mushroom. I’ve read the book in English and French, and one mismatch sticks in my mind. The English version says someone (geographer? businessman?) encountered a giddy goose, the French says he encountered un hanneton. A hanneton is an insect, not a bird.

There are the Martian seed bug, the boring turretsnail, and the Chinese mystery snail.

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How is this one funny?

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Its called a killdeer for its call: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Killdeer/sounds

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Seems pretty well-named, actually. ‘white-breasted’ is accurate, as it has a white breast, ‘nuthatch’ comes from its habit of hacking at nuts. ‘hack’ just got changed to ‘hatch’ along the way.

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Still, you have to admit that it’s a funny image: a bird tenderly incubating a nest full of nuts.

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Guess who else thought of that… Rosemary Mosco, of course! https://rosemarymosco.com/comics/bird-and-moon/nuthatch

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Yeah but I don’t hear it. Not on your link and not in the many many times I have heard them in the field. It just does not sound like kill deer to me.

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I guess I wasn’t being as literal. Funny thing is I have never seen either the Red or White version doing anything but looking for bugs. Perhaps bug hunter would be better and not sound quite so crazy.

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That’s what it wants you to think…

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There are some fun deerfly names:

My 16-year-old’s theory is that whoever named these was going through a particularly nasty divorce at the time.

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My favourites are the ones with names that make me giggle like I’m still in high school. Often, it’s the Latin name that’s more funny than the common name:

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