Lets play the Tautonyms game!

Suta suta elapidae curl snake

One that showed up unexpectedly here, Sula Sula, the red footed booby.

A parasitic wasp, as I remember?

Alle alle is a favorite of mine

Another plant for the list, Soleirolia soleirolii

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Usually, the plant was originally named in a different genus. For instance, Linnaeus published Anemone thalictroides, which is a perfectly reasonable name for an Anemone that looks like a Thalictrum. Two hundred years later, Eames & Boivin concluded that it looks like a Thalictrum because it is a Thalictrum, so we get Thalictrum thalictroides.

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Similarly:
Pinus araucana ā†’ Araucaria araucana
Helxine soleirolii ā†’ Soleirolia soleirolii
Calamus zalacca ā†’ Salacca zalacca
Arbutus uva-ursi ā†’ Arctostaphylos uva-ursi

People generally arenā€™t trying to create tautonyms, but arriving at similar names that later happen to be combined.

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Ah, so not trying but instead doing it by accident!

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Especially when you speak Germanā€¦ :sweat_smile:

Same is true for Naja naja :snake:

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Gallus gallus :rooster:

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I always think of these as the gold standard for what a member of the group can be. Gallus gallus is the most chickeny chicken. You just canā€™t get more chicken-like.

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Thereā€™s the even more chickeny subspecies (Gallus gallus ssp. gallus):

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Canā€™t you? :smirk:
Is the livestock version (gallus gallus var domesticus) that most people are familiar with more or less chicken-y than its wild progeniter (gallus gallus)?
Does domestication make chickens less chicken-y, or o we ignore varieties?

Never mind, Vasily was already on the case. :laughing:

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Eastern Cardinal - Cardinalis cardinalis cardinalis

Hereā€™s one: Echeandia echeandioides, except that this started out as Trachyandra echeandioides, which was presumably named because it was a Trachyandra that was a lot like an Echeandia. I canā€™t read Diederich Franz Leonhard von Schlechtendalā€™s German description from 1845, so Iā€™m guessing. Von Schlechtendal was clearly onto something because the species was moved into Echeandia in 1993.

[Edit: I see that @aspidoscelis already mentioned this mode of tautonym creation, with a bunch of great examples.]

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Linnaeus never created a tautonym - in fact, scientists never intentionally described a new species using a tautonym. Tautonyms came about when new genera were erected, based on existing species names. For example:
Otter Lutra lutra was originally described as Mustela lutra
Crane Grus grus was originally Ardea grus
Red-billed chough Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax was originally described as Upupa pyrrhocorax
Etc.

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Tetragonia tetragonioides ā€“ was originally Demidovia tetragonoides

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I suspect youā€™re right about all or most tautonyms arising from taxonomic revisions after the original description of the species. Would have to research the original names of these animals to find exceptions, if they exist.

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Anser anser the only one I can think of. That I donā€™t think was mentioned already.

Also Hypericum hypericoides

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