I have two in my hair: Lawsonia inermis, which means “unarmed” but has spines, and Simmondsia chinensis, which grows in the North American desert and got its name from “Calif” being misread as “China”.
4 Likes
Zenaida asiatica, a New World dove.
2 Likes
Coluber constrictor (a snake physically incapable of constricting), and Scalopus aquaticus (Eastern mole, not aquatic but the type specimen was found drowned in a well). Come on taxonomists get more creative XD.
8 Likes
Technically not a misnomer, the specific epithet ludovicianus (of Louisiana) was given to many species found within the Louisiana Territory, a huge piece of land covering much of the Great Plains in the central US that was explored by the Lewis & Clark expedition. Many of the so-named species don’t occur in the present-day state of Louisiana, such as the Black-tailed Prairie Dog.
5 Likes
Acaena novae-zelandiae, from Tasmania, and Platycercus caledonicus, also from Tasmania.
2 Likes
Chaeropus ecaudatus, the Southern Pig-footed Bandicoot, had a tail.
5 Likes
The North American common milkweed, Asclepias syriaca, was named by a French doctor/botanist in Paris, Jacques-Philippe Cornut. He decided this plant, grown from seed from Quebec City, looked like some other plants from “Asia Minor”. Therefore, Syria! Linnaeus agreed and we’ve been dealing with the nightmare name ever since.
Thanks, Linnaeus! 
5 Likes
Ok how does that happen lol
Simple mistakes about range or habitat is one thing, but you gotta be blind to make that kind of mistake 
1 Like
Maybe the type specimen was missing its tail.
1 Like
There is a bee whose scientific name apparently derives from a situation much like this.
The second part of the binomial Coelioxys inermis means “unarmed/defenseless” or “toothless”. Sometimes this is interpreted to mean “lacking a stinger”, but they are perfectly normal in this respect – like all other bees females have stingers and males do not.
One of my reference books says that the author of the original description indicated that the name referred to it lacking the pointed projections on the scutellum which are characteristic of bees in this genus, but Coelioxys inermis is also typical in this regard, so the assumption is that he had a malformed or damaged specimen.
1 Like
yeah, it was apparently a taxidermy mishap
1 Like
I didn’t really know any but since there are so many misnomers with the specific epiphet ‘inermis‘
I’ll add one more- Astyliasula inermis its a mantis what do you expect 
1 Like
Blue Whale, Balaenoptera musculus
(musculus = little mouse)
One that annoys me is Ceratopipra erythrocephala (erythro=red), used for the only Ceratopipra that doesn’t have a red head.
4 Likes
The word musculus can refer to muscle which would make more sense for the whale. The words mouse and muscle share a common root, apparently because a muscle moving under the skin resembled a mouse. (Those crazy Romans.) Or maybe Linnaeus was making a joke.
4 Likes
Yep, Linnaeus must have known both meanings so I’m hoping some of the irony was intentional.
1 Like
IIRR this has the same origin as Mysticeti: in Ancient Greek μυς means mouse, muscle, mussel, or a kind of whale. To distinguish the whale from the mouse, one would say “ο μυς το κητος”, which is like saying “the turtle the dove” in English (this word “turtle” is from the sound of the bird and is unrelated to “turtle” meaning sideneck or hideneck). This phrase was deformed into “mysticetus”, which was then placed in the second declension with plural “mysticeti” instead of “mysticete” or “mysticetera”.
2 Likes
This one annoys me more than it should. Cymopterus albiflorus (= Cymopterus terebinthinus var. albiflorus). “albiflorus” = white flowers. Many people have looked for the white-flowered form, which is, or has been, a listed rare plant. Turns out the plant always has yellow flowers, as is typical for C. terebinthinus but the petals turn white or whitish as they dry. Aaargh!
4 Likes
Can’t think of the animal examples right now, but similar misnomers have been assigned based on discoloration in preserved (in alcohol or taxidermied) animal specimens.
1 Like
Good old shotgun ornithology! I used to band birds, and there would be the “red-headed whatever” (it happens with both common names and scientific names), and it’s like yes, IF you shoot it and start turning over the feathers on the head one by one, you will notice a few tiny, hidden feathers that are a bit reddish. Totally useless name without the organism in the hand. Scott talked about the crab version of this in the recent webinar.
3 Likes
Took me years before I saw the orange crown on an Orange-crowned Warbler. But that descriptor is not in the scientific name.
2 Likes