I suppose one could argue they are barely (or bearly?) bears as they are off in their own subfamily while what we usually think of as “true” bears are in the subfamily Ursinae.
But, yeah, they’re bears.
1 Like
Meet the bearly bear AKA panda.
1 Like
Even then, spectacled bears are also not part of subfamily Ursinae, and everyone would call them bears. Nevertheless, getting hung up on pedantry is ultimately silly. I like the idea of “bearly a bear.”
Well, as long as we’re discussing pandas, their scientific name could be considered misleading. Ailuropoda. Cat-foot. It’s feet don’t look very cat-like to me.
The raccoon genus Procyon means “first dog.” Also misleading, since the first dogs were not raccoons.
Yes, I think you might be right on that!
I have it thusly, the giant panda has been reclassified a few times over the years as new evidence became available. At first, it was considered a bear, then it was thought to be a separate species, but now it’s back to being classified as a bear based on the latest genetic findings.
1 Like
Yet Androctonus australis does not even occur in the southern hemisphere.
First, so stays, does have some funny consequences from time to time, e.g. in the case of Stenodactylus sthenodactylus, the type species of the genus where the specific epithet really should match the genus name, yet there was a typo in the original description, so it stays.
3 Likes
Gyromitra esculenta is lethally toxic (though of course still eaten by those adventurous / brave / stupid enough despite ample evidence that even cooking techniques applied to render it safe for consumption cannot be guaranteed to achieve this aim).
Pelophylax kl. hispanicus is endemic to Italy.
Whether the latter is a valid taxon is of course a completely different issue then the appropriateness of its name.
3 Likes
Interesting example of a species whose name would mean edible while actually it is not, at all or something like that.
1 Like
For that matter, the whole category of plant genera which were arbitrarily assigned names from ancient Greek, that were originally names of plants we don’t even know today. As in you look up the etymology of the genus and it says something like, “Ancient Greek name for some plant.”
1 Like
I have closed a flag for the beetle Chrysolina americana today:
3 Likes
This topic was automatically closed 60 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.