Hummingbird Hawk-Moth, one of my recent obs. It is actually named after two birds!
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but I call that a flying crayfish (since we have sunbirds not hummers)
And it most definitely has a fluffy crayfish tail!
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I believe in Hong Kong we colloquially call it “Flying Shrimp”, though I’ve never referred to it using that term.
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Hummingbird Hawk-Moth is like a personal pet peeve of mine and actually one example as to why I prefer using binomials. “Hummingbird hawk-moth” seems to be the common name for Macroglossum stellatarum, but people seem to generally use that name for any member within that genus or even for other Sphingids vaguely resembling that genus, and for some reason it just confuses the hell out of me lol. I know this is off topic, but its too tempting for me not to share.
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I will offer that this happens in scientific names, too.
Long-tailed duck, Clangula hyemalis
And then take the genus of that one and put it as the specific epithet of
Bufflehead Bucephala clangula
It happens across kingdoms, too. The most commonly cultivated species of genus Ficus (of plants), has “fruits” (technically receptacles) of a distinctive shape. And the genus Ficus (of gastropods) was named for their shell’s resemblance to those “fruits.”
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My favorite example of this is kind of sneaky.
The european stag beetle is called Lucanus cervus, obviously after deer in the genus Cervus. This was the first stag beetle species to be described.
The giant stag beetle native to the US, which is similar to the european stag beetle but has larger jaws, is sometimes called the “elephant stag beetle” because its name is Lucanus elaphus. But it’s actually a reference to the the scientific name of the red deer, Cervus elaphus. The “elaphus” has nothing to do with elephants.
The other large stag beetle found in eastern North America, the reddish-brown stag beetle, is called Lucanus capreolus. “capreolus” means “goat”, and I think i’ve actually seen it referred to as the “goat beetle” in some book. But once again this is actually referring to a European deer species, the roe deer Cervus capreolus.
The roe deer is smaller than the red deer and has smaller antlers, and the reddish brown stag beetle has smaller mandibles than the giant stag beetle.
The european and reddish-brown stag beetle were described by Linnaeus himself, first the European stag beetle in 1758 then the reddish-brown in 1763, then Fabricius kept up the tradition by naming the giant stag beetle in 1775.
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I think Northern Right Whale Dolphin and Southern Right Whale Dolphin are some of the dumbest English species names I’ve ever heard, but I find them kind of endearing as well. I think it’s already weird that they’re named after right whales based on the lack of a dorsal fin and not any kind of ecological association. Bonus points for Southern Right Whale Dolphin containing “Southern Right Whale” without being specifically named after the Southern Right Whale
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That is a good one, especially considering I’m from the place where the majority of observations of this species has been made.
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and i heard it tastes great sautéed with garlic and butter
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The Mountain Chicken isn’t a bird, and the Orange Tiger isn’t even a vertebrate.
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Whoops just noticed this.
Sure, why not
Animals named after made-up animals? Well, I guess the first one that has to be mentioned is Unicorn Tang (Sorry I couldn’t post an iNat link; the site is down for maintenance at the moment.)
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Well I have not confirmed this, but have often thought about it: Protea nerifolia is named after Nerium oleander which in turn is named after the wild olive, Olea. All of these plants have similar looking leaves.
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Prairie dogs (genus Cynomys) are obviously not dogs, they’re ground squirrels. Although I’ve run into people who were surprised to learn they are squirrels, perhaps in part due to the common name (but I’m not sure what kind of mammal these folks thought they were – maybe rats?). The scientific name translates as “dog mouse” – which they are neither.
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On that note, Ailurus is the genus of red panda, but ailurophobia is the fear of cats.
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There’s also a series of wolf spider genera which are named after mammalian predators, except mangled into rhyming with Lycosa:
| Genus | Ancient Greek | English |
|---|---|---|
| Lycosa | lycosa | wolf |
| Arctosa | arctos | bear |
| Alopecosa | alopex | fox |
| Pardosa | pardos | leopard |
| Tigrosa | tigris | tiger |
The rhyming thing is done with many more wolf spider genera, e.g. Gladicosa, from ‘gladius’, Latin for ‘sword’. The Ancient Greek and English words are mostly from the same Proto-Indo-European roots (even ‘lycosa’ and ‘wolf’, which both came from something like ‘wlkos’), except for ‘alopex’, which doesn’t have a clear origin, and ‘bear’ which has an interesting story.
Thresher Sharks (Alopius vulpinus) are doubly named after foxes (genus name from Ancient Greek, specific name from Latin), due to being considered clever for biting through nets.
Wasp Mantidflies, which are neither wasps, nor mantids, nor flies. They’re most closely related to lacewings and antlions.
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