Weird common names in your native language

Inspired by the thread Funny, long, or just plain weird animal names, which contains mostly English names, I thought I’d create this thread for sharing memorably weird names from other languages as well (with translations of course, so every one can enjoy).

I’ll start with some of my Danish favourites:

  • kæmpefluen Harald (“the giant fly Harald”; named after a chubby professor) - Tachina grossa
  • mellemfluen Oskar (“the medium fly Oskar”; inspired by the above name) - Tachina fera
  • den vandrette sæk (“the horizontal sack”) - the moth Bacotia claustrella
  • rød ninja (“red ninja”) - the spider Zelotes electus
  • dræbersnegl (“killer slug”; nothing particularly murderous about it, but many garden owners really hate them) Arion vulgaris

Also, turtles are called skildpadder (“shield amphibians”) which has the unfortunate consequence that many Danes assume turtles to be amphibians.

Looking forward to reading yours!

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7 posts were merged into an existing topic: Great, funny, or weird species names in other languages

see this thread: https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/great-or-funny-species-names-in-other-languages/10910

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Ah, thanks!

Have fun :-)

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Opened existing topic and merged comments there: https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/great-funny-or-weird-species-names-in-other-languages/10910