# Incorrect name for insect genus

**URL:** <https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/incorrect-name-for-insect-genus/11000>\
**Category:** General\
**Created:** [March 25, 2020, 6:23pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/incorrect-name-for-insect-genus/11000 "2020-03-25T18:23:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![smoorman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/smoorman/32/8100_2.png) [@smoorman](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/smoorman)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 6:23pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/incorrect-name-for-insect-genus/11000/1 "2020-03-25T18:23:30Z")

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The genus of Acanthocephala of the Coreidae family has been incorrectly assigned the common name of Spiny-headed Worms which actually refers to parasitic worms with the same genus name.

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**Author:** ![marina\_gorbunova](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/marina_gorbunova/32/31454_2.png) [@marina\_gorbunova](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/marina_gorbunova)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 7:06pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/incorrect-name-for-insect-genus/11000/2 "2020-03-25T19:06:20Z")

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If you are sure – add a flag to this taxon and curators will change it.

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**Author:** ![robotpie](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/robotpie/32/630_2.png) [@robotpie](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/robotpie)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 7:41pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/incorrect-name-for-insect-genus/11000/3 "2020-03-25T19:41:21Z")

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Yeah I agree flag that for curation. It occurs to me that different taxa can have the same genus, which can be a bit confusing, eg. Dysphania is the genus for both a moth and a plant. I’m guessing there might be some historical aspect to this too.

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**Author:** ![psweet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/psweet/32/3156_2.png) [@psweet](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/psweet)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 8:02pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/incorrect-name-for-insect-genus/11000/4 "2020-03-25T20:02:11Z")

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For historical reasons, there are two organizations that exist to keep biological nomenclature straight – one for animals, and one for plants. (Fungi are maintained, I believe, by the second one. I’m not sure about various protistan groups, or bacteria and archea.) Since zoology and botany used to be viewed as completely different fields, there was no reason to worry about sharing names, and so there are plants and animals with the same genus, or even the same species name. A good example is Arenaria, which applies to Turnstones (a genus of birds) and sandworts (a genus of plants). Until fairly recently, the species name interpres could be found in both genera, although the plant version is now called something else.

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**Author:** ![bouteloua](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/bouteloua/32/1180_2.png) [@bouteloua](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/bouteloua)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 8:06pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/incorrect-name-for-insect-genus/11000/5 "2020-03-25T20:06:30Z")

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One’s a phylum and the other is an insect genus, both animals. I removed the common name from the insect genus on iNat.

[https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/151826-Acanthocephala](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/151826-Acanthocephala)  
[https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/61446-Acanthocephala](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/61446-Acanthocephala)

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**Author:** ![smoorman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/smoorman/32/8100_2.png) [@smoorman](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/smoorman)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 12:42am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/incorrect-name-for-insect-genus/11000/6 "2020-03-26T00:42:21Z")

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Thank you! :)

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/2X/7/7831452cf7f0d653ff1ffd34176334b7ef1b6a17.png) [@system](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/system)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2020, 12:42am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/incorrect-name-for-insect-genus/11000/7 "2020-05-25T00:42:27Z")

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